Link
by BlueWings900
Summary: Sequel to Rage of Fire. Cain's game sends a shrunken Abel to the past, while it brings a taller yet younger Abel Nightlord to the present.
1. Chapter 1

Darkness surrounded Abel on all four sides, but even without any light he could see just fine. Abel walked toward a glass wall. It was a window. Looking out, he could see a city surrounded by a dome and beyond that the land was all red, and devoid of any life. He turned again, this time taking in all the details of the room. Shelves lined a wall of the room, but nothing was stacked in it except for a lone book. A leather chair sat behind a wooden desk, a laptop sat on it. Stacks off paper where neatly piled on one side of the desk. Across the desk where two chairs. His eyes drifted to the floor, where tiny bits of colored paper where scattered, nobody would know what they were.

Abel combed his fingers through his long silver hair. This just couldn't be right. He walked toward the door, but stopped. If he really was where he thought he was, the door would open as soon as he neared it.

The door slid open and Abel held his breath, he had been so consumed in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed anyone walking down the hall towards the room. "We have captured the thieves," a woman with black hair and light brown eyes reported. She didn't look at him and continued flipping through the red folder in her hands, finally she found what she was looking for and pulled free one of the many papers. She looked up. "Sir?"

She looked past Abel and toward the desk. Immediately her gaze became troubled with a mixture of irritation, her eyes flickered over Abel then traveled toward the shelf. She did a double take. Confusion flooded her features, then anger. "Who are you?" she threw the papers to the ground and attacked Abel. She pulled out her gun, and aimed it at his head, "what did you do with the lieutenant colonel?" she barked, the gun cocked.

At her words it sunk in. Abel was on the red planet, earth's last hope, the place where everything began. He was on mars. "What year is it?" Abel's voice cracked.

"Tell me where the Lieutenant is, kid!" the woman ordered. Her finger slowly moved to the trigger. Abel flicked his wrist upward causing the woman to drop the gun, "ouch!" she yelped in surprise and clutched her hand.

"I don't know, Tabitha" Abel responded as he slowly stood up. Odd thing was, in the past he was the Lieutenant.

"How do you know my name?" the lady asked, in bewilderment. Abel shrugged. "What's your name?" Abel shrugged again, and she slowly neared him. "Are you mad at me for attacking you?" she asked, she was no longer yelling. Abel looked up at her. "Listen kid I'm really sorry about that," Tabitha knelt next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I over reacted. After thinking about it, I highly doubt a kid like you could harm the lieutenant," she smiled. "He's probably ditching work," she sighed and her hand on his shoulder dropped to grab his hand. "Where's your parents?"

"Parent?" Abel repeated as she walked out the door, still holding his hand.

"Well, you've got to have parents. You're what? Eleven years old?," Tabitha looked down at him as though he were crazy and gave him a soft smile. "You know you look a lot like the lieutenant, just with a really bad hair cut."

Abel stopped walking, and Tabitha stopped when she felt a tug on her hand. "Um, I just remembered that I need to be somewhere," Abel said. She released his hand, and he took a few steps back before sprinting down the hall.

XXX

"Who was that?" Seth asked. She craned her neck to see the wisps silver hair flowing behind the retreating form of an eleven year old.

"Lieutenant Seth," Tabitha looked down at the black haired girl with green eyes. Her clothing was pure white, rimmed with green, along the cuff of the neck and arms. "I'm not sure, he never told me his name."

"Oh," Seth said, seeming upset by this. "Well, were you able to find my brother? I needed to ask him something." She waved a book in her hand. Everyone knew her brother was giving her lessons in several dead languages. Tabitha shook her head, no. "I swear he's so lazy!" Seth exclaimed, "he goes to sleep really late and then wakes up even later." Seth sighed, "I'm going to go wake him up _now._" Seth nodded to the taller woman and made her way down the hall, in the same direction the kid had gone.

"I don't believe this," Seth heard a voice coming from inside her brothers room. It sounded like her brother, and yet it didn't at the same time, it sounded higher somehow. Seth placed a hand on the door knob, and fished out her key card. But stopped before sliding the card, to open the door. She heard the sound of rustling paper and then the shuffling of feet. The person was nearing the door.

_-Click-_ The knob in Seth's hand twisted and she pulled her hand back. The door opened inward. A person stood in front of her at the entrance of the door way. It was the silver haired boy she had seen earlier. His hair was tied together in a black ribbon and reached all the way to his knees. His hair seemed to match well with his electric blue eyes. He was the spitting image of her brother, when he was younger.

"Abel?" Seth asked at the same time the boy said, "Seth?" both were both unsure of themselves.

"How- what- when- Abel you," Seth stuttered unable to find the right words. Just what happened to her brother? "You're short," she finally managed to say.

Abel scowled at this and took her by the arm before closing the door, behind him. "What year is it?" Abel asked. He should have been panicking but found himself speaking calmly as though it were normal.

"What?" Seth looked at him. "Why do you want the year? And what's up with your hair?" Abel glared at her. "It's 2118," she said, clearly not getting the point to all this. "Why?"

Abel shook his head, "Where you injected with the crusnik?" Abel asked.

Now this was making her worry, why was her brother acting this way? "Who are you?" she barked, Seth really wanted an answer. She was getting suspicious of Abel.

Abel took in a deep breath, "I'm from the future."

"What?" Seth burst out laughing. "That's the worst joke ever!" she said between breaths. "Did my brother tell you to do this?" Seth asked, "brother!" she called. Her stomach was beginning to hurt. She put her hands on her knees, she was laughing so much that just standing, was becoming hard. "Brother!" she called again, "I know you're there, get over here now!" Seth chuckled. No one came out. "This isn't funny," she stated, but she was still laughing.

XXX

Abel cracked a smile. Of course no one would believe he was Abel Nightlord. He had the body of an eleven year old and his hair was to long. By telling Seth he was from the future was also a stupid move. But what else was he supposed to say? That he had a kid, eleven years ago?

"I'm not lying," Abel stated. His sister had backed herself into a wall and was leaning against it. "Someone drugged me and thus I'm stuck in this body until I get back to my time," Abel quickly explained. This only caused Seth to laugh even more.

"Where are you going?" Seth asked between breaths, she was trying to make a serious face but couldn't.

Abel stopped with his hand on the door. He realized that he had no clue what to do. "Um, I'm going to talk to Lilith," Abel said after sometime. For now it was the best choice, she might actually believe him. And even if she didn't all she would need to do was take a sample of his blood. Or- or he could find his younger self.

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**A/N:** Yay! Next book, started! I hope you guys enjoy it.

**Notice:** I don't own Tabitha, Flame800900 does.


	2. Chapter 2

"What the?" Abel Nightlord's eyes flew open. What he saw immediately made him panic, he was in- in a lake!

First Abel had been dozing off in his office and now, poof, here was in the middle of a lake. His eyes darted around, as he tried to get his bearings straight. If this was punishment it was the worst kind.

Just like a bullet the sight of what he saw shocked him. This wasn't- it wasn't mars! It looked more like Earth, but it didn't looked as advanced in technology as it should have been. It was almost like he went back in time. Abel began swimming for the shore, just where the heck was he?

Abel pulled himself out of the lake, his clothes where plastered to his body. He shut his eyes and shook his head causing the waster to spray around him, his short hair poked out of different places.

"Sir," Abel spun around, at the sound of a mans voice. The man wore a black suit and his black hair reached to just above his waste. "I'm Isaac butler, and my master wishes to meet you." Isaac bowed with a hand over his heart.

"Who exactly is your master?" Abel asked. Was this person the reason why Abel was here? Did this have something to do with the UN?

"You'll see," Isaac smiled sweetly at him, as he stood up straight. His hand swiftly moved to a pocket in his suit. Abel could feel his muscles tense, ready to spring into action at any moment. Isaac chuckled at this. Soon the area around him began to distort and he took hold of Abel.

"Let me go," Abel demanded as he yanked his hand away. What had that been all about? Abel made a turn to leave but noticed he wasn't by the lake anymore. Instead he was in large room. A coffee table sat in the middle of it and at the head was a leather couch. Abel's eyes narrowed as he tried to get a better look at it, he could barely make out the shape of a human sitting in it.

"Long time no see brother," the figure stepped out of the shadows. It was Cain, and yet somehow it wasn't. His eyes where red, and his nails where at least two inches long, all of them black. Six white wings were folded neatly behind him. "Well in your case I guess you've seen me just recently," Cain continued, "but for me it's been a little over eight centuries," he waved his hand as if it weren't important.

"Are you going on one of your insane streaks?" Abel growled. "We need to find away back, if we stay here-"

"Calm down Abel," Cain chuckled, he put a hand on Abel's chin, forcing him closer.

Abel swept his arm away and glared at his brother. His hand reached out toward Cain's face, as he had done a million times before. Hand pressed against his brothers face Abel tried shoving it down like he normally did, but it didn't affect Cain at all. "What?" Abel gasped. He jabbed his other hand into Cain's gut, but he still wasn't affected.

"It seems 02 hasn't awakened yet," Cain stated, he looked highly disappointed by this fact. He sent a blast of energy toward Abel, sending him into the opposite wall.

Abel's skull felt as though it had been split open. "What are you talking about?" Abel gasped.

"Isaac bring me some blood," Cain ordered, "I can't do anything with him, until he's been exposed to the sun long enough," he said this in a half upset half sing song voice.

(mean while)

The Iron Maiden landed and everyone filed out. Lord Welsh and the Queen had been expecting them. Abel had found a clue and believed it was talking about one of the bridges in Lundinium, Albion. Seth, Asthe, Ion, Leon and Ester where all ordered to help him, by her eminence, Lady Caterina Sforza.

"That shrimp better have found something," Leon commented, talking about Abel. Everyone was upset he had decided to go back to Londinium. He was about to say more but stopped when Lord Welsh appeared.

"Lord Welsh," Ion and the rest of the methuselah bowed. "I hope you don't mind but we also brought Ester and Leon, they both work in the vatican. Ester staying in the ship though."

"It's no problem at all," Lord Welsh replied, "Lady Caterina had already told me of the two of them. Oh and please call me Virgil."

"Okay, Virgil," Leon said, "where's that shrimp?"

"Abel went to the lake," Virgil replied smoothly. "He should have been back by now. Ever since getting here he's spent all his time at the lake looking over all three bridges, but hasn't found anything."

"He hasn't found anything!" Leon exclaimed. "He's just leading us in a wild goose chase!"

"When did he leave?" Seth asked. At her voice Leon stopped yelling.

"He left right after breakfast about," Virgil looked at his watch. "six hours ago."

"Thank you," Seth nodded, "if you don't mind I would like to check up on him, and have a look at the bridge. Perhaps I can find something that he missed."

"Oh course. Do you want me to come with you?" Virgil asked.

"No. I think we'll be just fine. It's that way, right?" Seth pointed into town. Virgil nodded his head. "Thanks again. We'll be back once we find him and look over the bridge."

"There's someone swimming the lake," Ion commented pointing to someone's bobbing head.

"That water is filthy! I can't believe anyone would actually jump in there," Asthe said. "It's moving to the other side," she said after awhile.

"Have any of you seen Abel?" Seth appeared by them, "I found his bag, but nothing else.

"Nope, but knowing that idiot," Leon jabbed his thick thumb toward the lake, "he's probably that person swimming over there."

Seth followed Leon's finger, and shielded her eyes from the sun. The figure pulled himself from the water and shook his head of silver hair. He wore white clothing. A darker figure appeared out of no where, they stood talking together for a minute or two before the figure took hold of the others hand.

"Abel!" Seth yelled, but it was already to late. He was gone. "We need to find them. That device doesn't work for long distances that means, they should be somewhere in Albion."

"Who died and made you boss?" Leon asked, as he glared down at the girl. "Besides that wasn't even the shrimp! He looked more like Four-eyes." Asthe hit him on the head, both she and Ion didn't like that comment he made to their empress. "What was that for?" he demanded.

"We've been telling you this whole time that the short kid _is_ Abel Nightroad!" Asthe yelled at him. "You're the most- gah, terrans are so dumb! Listen," she ordered. "Abel shrunk because of a drug and also got amnesia as another side affect."

"But he's much more serious then Four-eyes!" Leon argued back.

"Like it or not, he is Father Nightroad," Ion jumped in. "And it seems like he got a cure or something, because he's tall again."

XXX

"Where the heck are we?" Abel growled. Cain laughed at his question. "Are you even Cain?"

Cain sighed, and set his glass of blood down. He had thought of a thousand different scenarios and solutions, for this moment. Choosing the right one he started, "you're infused with the Crusnik, correct?" Abel nodded. "So that means the UN has already abandoned everyone then," he paused to let the suspension build up. "Seth, and Lilith, died," Cain said this slowly, and he let his face become sorrowful. "Right now you're in Albion, eight centuries in the future. I tried bringing Seth and Lilith here as well, but the device I made could only work once," Cain made his voice crack.

"Wha-what?" Abel breathed. "How can this be the future? How did Seth and Lilith die?"

"During the Mars civil war, Armageddon was also happening on earth," Cain said, seeing no need to lie about this. "That's why the UN abandoned us," Cain paused as he found the right words to use for this next part. He shook his head, "look the important thing is that you're here now and I won't let anyone kill you."

Abel's reaction was immediate. Of course after that speech, Abel would be his. As soon as 02 awakened they would become one and his body would regain it's strength.

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**A/N:** Abel Nightlord has the Crusnik infused in him but since he has just been exposed to the sun his powers won't awaken until a little later, which is why he's weak.

Please review they really help.


	3. Chapter 3

(Year 2118)

"So what's your real name?" Seth asked for the hundredth time. She was following Abel everywhere he went and wouldn't leave him alone.

"I told you what it was," Abel answered, as he exited the capital building. Coming to the red road Abel looked both ways until he crossed it. Before the only medical room they had was in the capital building but after the UN abandoned them they had set up another separate building. The door to the hospital slid open and Abel slipped through.

"You can't be Abel!" Seth argued back, she obviously wasn't going to drop it.

"Fine, I'm not Abel."

"Hah! I knew it!" Seth shouted in glee. Abel rolled his eyes, had his sister always been this childish? Abel pressed a button in the elevator to go to the third floor, ignoring his really young sister's, 'I knew it' speech.

Entering the large waiting room full of chairs and a few coffee tables, Abel walked passed the receptionists desk. He could hear the woman calling him back but ignored her… as he always had. From there he entered a door to the emergency room, Lilith was almost always there.

"You know," Seth said as she put herself in front Abel, making it so he would have to go around her. "You really shouldn't be in here, kid. It's the emergency room, you could interfere with someones operation."

Abel grunted, and proceeded into an office. It was as big as Caterina's back in the Vatican but it was filled with more files and shelves then hers making it seem smaller then it actually was. "Abel, Seth," a person in the room, said. Her red hair was put up in a bun and her golden brown skin, made her look almost other worldly to Abel. "I'm busy right now," she didn't turn to them, and had her nose in a large book. It was her, it was Lilith. His love, the one he lost many years ago, the reason why he worked for the vatican.

"Okay, you got the Seth part right but I'm not with Abel," Seth chirped up. "Your nose must be stuffed from being in this room," Seth teased.

Lilith looked up from her book, and spun on her chair to look at them. She looked at Seth first then Abel, her face was one of complete shock. Not that he could blame her. "You look exactly like Abel," Lilith stared at him. A frown appeared on her beautiful features, "are you from the UN? Did they make you?"

"You won't believe me even if I told you," Abel responded. "It's me, Abel Night- Nightlord. This will probably sound really cheesy but I'm from the future, and I sort of shrunk, because of a drug," he was surprised that he was even able to find his voice.

"You were right about that cheesy part," Lilith cocked an eyebrow. She looked like she was about to burst out laughing as Seth had done but didn't. "You smell like Abel, and you even look like him." She paused, "do you have the crusnik in you?"

"Yes," Abel answered at the same time Seth yelled, "he's not Abel! He even admitted that he wasn't! My brother's just trying to pull a prank on me… Wait, are you in on it too?"

"Seth, you need to calm down," Lilith said sweetly, her voice was almost like a beautiful song Abel hand't heard in a long time.

"I'm not lying Seth. If you want me to prove it then ask me any question you want," Abel said.

Seth glared at him and opened the book she had been carrying with her all this time. Abel looked at the book, it was one of his that he brought from Earth to pass time, it was written in Latin. "Translate this sentence," Seth challenged pointing to the first sentence of the third paragraph on that page.

"The leader has just returned," Abel said after glancing at the short sentence.

"How did you know that?" Seth gasped. She looked back at the book again, "well at least I know what that word means now," Seth mumbled. Go figure, she'd ask him a question, that not even she knew the answer to. For all she knew he could have been lying.

"I don't remember you being so childish," Abel commented. "Off that topic-" he stopped mid sentence. By the smell of it, someone was in critical condition. He could feel his fangs growing longer. It was someone with the basilisk in their system. "Never mind, it looks like you're going to have your hands full for the next day… or two." Abel could here the rush of more people coming into the hospital from the outside. It must have been rebels who had injured them.

"Lieutenant Lilith Sahl," someone knocked on the door before opening it. "The rebels have attacked again, and we have many injured," it was Kayson, Tabitha's husband and Lilith's second.

"I'm coming," Lilith said. Kayson nodded and left the the room, heading off to help the injured. Lilith placed a book mark in the book she was reading before taking off after him. She looked from Abel to Seth, who both nodded, telling her that they would be fine.

"Can I borrow your radio?" Abel asked, once Lilith left the room.

"Why?" Seth started taking it out of her pocket, but didn't hand it to Abel. "Where's yours?"

"Mine is over 9 centuries years old as is broken," Abel snapped, as he snatched the radio out of her hand.

"Hey!" she shouted.

"I need to get a hold of Tabitha," Abel quickly explained, as he changed the channel on the radio, and placed it on his ear.

"Lieutenant Seth?" Tabitha's voice came through, Abel could hear gun fire in the back ground.

"Where are you right now?" Abel asked quickly as he left the room, and walked to the elevator.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was you, Lieutenant Colonel," Tabitha said, sounding shocked. "I'm fighting Rebel forces on the east side of the city. Our forces are dimming and we're loosing the battle. I estimate that we can last for another twenty minutes, before all our men are injured."

"And the enemy?"

"There's about a hundred."

"I'll be there in five."

"What! No one can travel there that fast, the terrain is to rough for a car. You'll have to-" Abel turned off the radio, and ripped it off his ear.

"I'm going to borrow this for a while, I'll give it back to you later," Abel told Seth as he stuffed the radio into his pocket. Seth opened her mouth to say something, but before she could he had already started running in haste.

As Abel neared the fray, gun shots and screams could be heard. I bullet whizzed by him and he was forced to dodge it. Bodies littered the ground but it didn't seem as though anyone was dead, just badly injured. Abel scanned the area. There were a few buildings, but because of the fighting they were damaged, and would need repairs done.

On one side of the field only five people remained. They all held snipers and where using the rough terrain as their only defense. They would stand every once in a while to fire a shot or two before ducking down. One the other side, was what could have been a small army. None of them were hiding like the others, they were to naive and thought they had already won. Some of them held guns while the others held grenades.

A few of the rebels had drifted off to the side and were torching some of the injured men. Laughing and spiting in their faces. One man stood over a child. He had a dagger in his hand. Abel clenched his teeth, how dare they involve the civilians! Especially the children. The child seemed to realize the danger she was in and screamed, just as Abel charged at the man.

* * *

**A/N:** I just felt I should thank everyone who reviewed the last two chapters as well as those who reviewed my last book. If it wasn't for all the support I don't think I would still be writing right now. So thanks everyone! XD

**Notice:** I don't own Tabitha or Kayson, Flame800900 does... I feel like I'm stealing her characters some times...


	4. Chapter 4

(Present)

"You didn't tell me how they died," Abel's voice cracked, he didn't want to believe his sister and Lilith were dead.

"The UN," Cain said. Hurt and sorrow flooded his features, Abel had never seen his brother look so defeated before in his life. He knew his brother wasn't joking. Even though he had acted like an idiot after being infused with the crusnik, his brother was still his brother and would never lie about something like this. Cain shook his head, as if he didn't want to go into detail. Abel didn't blame him.

"How old are you exactly?" Abel asked, his voice cracked even though he was trying to change the subject.

"Older then you," Cain smiled, his tone had become light and filled with humor. That wasn't an answer! "Guess!" Cain challenged, still smiling. Abel found himself wanting to hit Cain again. Why was he acting like an idiot again? He had been so serious before and now he was behaving like a four year old.

"Thirty," Abel mumbled. His brother didn't look older then the last time he saw him back at mars.

"Beep. Wrong," Cain laughed, as he got off the chair and strode to Abel. He offered his hand and Abel took it gratefully and stood up. He needed to put his hand against the wall for balance, his skull was still throbbing from when Cain slammed him against it. Cain leaned closer to Abel and rested his chin against Abel's shoulder. He whispered, "Nine hundred seventy six." Abel turned to look at Cain, but when he did so his brother licked him.

"Would you cut that out!" Abel yelled, wiping his cheek against the sleeve of his shirt. He glared at his brother, he was so bipolar in his moods. After glaring at Cain, and getting nothing more then a sweet smile Abel sighed, "so I'm nine centuries in the future?" Cain nodded, still smiling with his eyes closed. "Are you really 976? No one can live that long not even us."

"It's because of the crusnik nano machines," Cain answered. Abel shivered. That was close to a millennium!

"So am I ever going to go back to my time?" Abel asked needing to know the answer.

Immediately Cain's smile dropped. "No," he stated. "It would be to dangerous, and once you did the UN would find you, and kill you," he shuddered.

"But if you told me how to get away from the UN like you had, then wouldn't it be okay?"

"NO!" Cain snapped, fangs flashed in the dark room. "This topic is not up for debate!" Abel flinched, Cain's eyes were beginning to bleed red. "Isaac!" Cain called, his blood shot gaze didn't leave Abel, even when Isaac appeared.

"Mein heir?"

"Show him to an empty room, make sure the windows don't have UV protection," Cain ordered.

"At once Mein Heir," Isaac bowed and turned.

"I'm sorry," Cain said his gaze dropped. "It's just that being alone for so long has made me… well jumpy," he sighed. "If you really want to go home I can make another device. However I won't be sending you home until your nano machines awaken."

"How-"

Cain shrugged. "It takes time, but when it does you will know. Promise me Abel that when this time happens that you'll accept them," his voice was so soft, as if he were scared.

"If that's what it takes, I will," Abel promised. He'd awaken his nano machines and when he went back home he's prevent the UN from killing Seth and Lilith. He turned and followed Isaac who had walked a little ways off.

Abel walked into the small room and Isaac closed the door behind him. Abel spun around just as he heard a click telling him he had been locked in the room. He sighed, it must have been because his brother just wanted to protect him, Abel tried convincing himself.

The room was smaller then any room he had ever slept in before, it was only big enough for one bed in the corner of the room. Above the bed was a window with no curtains. To Abel's right was another door that must have been the bathroom.

The sun from the window hit Abel. After a few years of not being in the sun the feeling was welcomed. It felt different somehow but it still made him warm.

XXX

Seth and the others started walking back. The two methuselah in the group needed to take liquid silver so that they could stand in the sun but, as a side effect they were as weak as any other terran. No haste or super human strength and no quick healing.

Looking at the small group Seth sighed. They would need to look for Abel once the sun set and, the silver wore off. If they did so today and where attacked, they'd be sure to loose. There was something off about that though. Seth knew it was him, but at the same time it wasn't. He had short hair and was wearing his clothing from back on mars. This didn't have something to do with the game, did it?

"So if he got his body back then what about his memories?" Leon's voice pulled Seth out of her thoughts. "Will he remember what he did when he was a shrimp?"

"How are we supposed to know that?" Asthe snapped at the human. "We won't know until we find him."

Leon grunted, an evil grin grew on his face. "He's going to regret everything he did to me!" he declared.

The hatch to the Iron maiden opened as Seth neared it, and everyone walked in. The Iron Maiden was parked on palace grounds and was near Albion's fleet of ships.

"Did you guys find anything?" Eris asked. She was one of the three stow aways that they had found a few days ago. She wore a light blue dress, that matched her grayish blue eyes, and her blond hair made the color pop out more.

"No," Seth answered, "we are going to look again at night." As she said this a ball of energy shot past her and tackled Leon. The gruff man easily caught the boy and swung him around before setting him down.

"Aw man," Peter complained. "You're just to strong, I'm never going to be able to land a shot."

"You've still got to grow if you want to beat me," Leon laughed. "Have you kids been helping out with chores?" he ruffled Peter's hair.

"No they have not!" it was another stow away that they had taken in. Wendy took Peter by the hand then Eris, "these two helped for only an our until they decided to wait here in hopes of scaring you." She paused, "I thought Father Nightroad would be coming back with you."

Asthe shook her head. "We saw him, but-"

"Abel needed to go somewhere," Seth finished for her. She shook her head telling Asthe to not tell the kids anything.

XXX

The two methuselah including Seth left as soon as the sun set. Ester and Leon had both decided to stay in the Iron Maiden, Ester to watch the kids and Leon because he was human and wouldn't be of any help in their search for Abel.

"I'll go to the bridge," Seth said. "There might still be hints about that clue Abel was trying to find and it might lead us to him. Ion, you will go to the last base that we found. After you're done you will join me." Virgil acknowledged her by nodding his, before entering haste. Asthe was right behind him, Ion took off in the opposite direction.

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**A/N**: I never expected to finish this chapter so fast, but I did. Thanks for all the reviews I got. Imagine my surprise when I woke up to see 5 new reviews this morning. In all truth I wasn't expecting that much, thanks a billion! Please continue reviewing.


	5. Chapter 5

(past)

"Are you okay?" Abel asked the girl he had just saved. All of the rebels where looking at him, debating on if they should attack him; but Abel didn't care. He would deal with them after he made sure the girl was okay.

"Thank you, sir," the child sniffed. She was gripping one of her knees. Blood gushed out between her fingers. Abel scowled, how dare those rebels harm a child! He fished a cloth from his pocket and tightly rapped it around her leg. The girl winced as he did so but didn't utter a complaint.

"Where's your parents?" Abel asked as he knelt down and offered his back to the girl. She hesitated before climbing on to it.

"Hey kid! What do you think you're doing?" one of the men from Tabitha's side called to Abel. "Hurry up and get out of here! You got lucky the first time but-"

_-Bang-_ Abel spun to look at the rebel forces. One man held a gun loosely in his hand, smoke was coming out of the barrel. He was snickering. "Check this out, we've got ourselves a captive!" the man yelled over his shoulder, his comment was followed by the others laughing.

The girl gripped Abel's neck tighter, "don't worry," Abel whispered. "Close your eyes and hold on tight, okay?" he could feel the girl nodding as she pressed himself into his back.

When he was younger he let the rebels live but this time he wouldn't. They were going to far. No- Abel pushed the crusniks thoughts away. He wouldn't kill them, just make them stop. But how? They wouldn't listen to reason, the only way would be to kill- Abel shook his head, it was best not to think on these matters, he wouldn't kill them and that was that.

Without another thought he picked up a dagger; that belonged to one the rebels he had taken care of, and sprinted toward the small army. The one who had shot one of Tabitha's men began firing shots at him, but they all missed. His shots were all mirrored by everyone else in the rebel army. A few cursed in annoyance.

As Abel got closer to the first man he noticed that it was actually Darin! Rage filled Abel, that man was the cause of so much trouble. They wanted to kill him! No! Abel pushed away the mind of the crusnik once more. "You won't take over!" he snarled to the crusnik. He would protect everyone without them.

Abel slashed at Darin's legs, another ten rebels only feet away also got a slashing across the legs. They howled in pain and dropped to the ground clutching their wounds. Without pausing for even a second Abel jumped into the air, several bullets whistled past him, one managed to graze his face, causing it to bleed. Ignoring the burning pain in his cheek Abel landed in the middle of enemy forces. Guns pointed at him and fired, he jumped up again. Instead of hitting Abel it hit other people. Thinking better of using guns, the rebels drew their knives. Abel could have laughed, they had no chance against him! Shifting the girl on his back, Abel threw the dagger, then picked up another that was on the ground.

"Surrender!" Abel shouted to them. He was in the middle of enemy forces again. All the rebels seemed to be shaken up by all the damage he had caused in such little time, but none of them dropped their weapons. A few even raised their guns again. "I said surrender!" Abel repeated, he didn't understand why he was so mad. He hadn't been this irritated in ages.

A gun shot went off. It caused Abel's ears to ring, Abel turned to the direction it came from. As he did so the grip on his neck loosened and the girl fell from his back. Abel's heart hammered in his chest. No, no, no! He spun around.

"Thank you sir," the girl said weakly. Abel knelt by her as her eyes slowly closed. How dare they- how dare they kill her! Blood pooled around her. Abel wiped a tear from her eye and stood.

His fangs began growing and he could feel the wound on his cheek quickly healing. The crusnik was activating itself but not enough for him to actually have to say the words. His claws grew into black two inch talons as strong as metal. His eyes were turning a bloody red. Abel bounced on the balls of his feet, a few of the rebels seemed to notice the difference and ran. To late. Without a sound Abel entered haste and took down the first of the rebels. He didn't kill them just make sure they stayed out of commission. He new they all had the basilisk in their system so his attacks wouldn't kill any of them. By the time he finished off half of the men there the others had run away, taking off in different directions. A few of them were caught by Tabitha and the four remaining people of her group.

"Stop!" Abel ordered the last few men who had turned to run. They stopped at the sound of his voice and turned. Fear was evident in their eyes. They dropped their weapons and held their hands up. "Never involve the innocent again! Do you hear me!" they all nodded viciously as if their life depended on it.

Tabitha put hand cuffs on all of them and told her men to take them away. Abel knelt by the girl, unsure of what to do. She was dead, nothing could change that. Was it him? Was it his fault she died?

"For a kid you sure know how to fight. You should think about joining our military when you get older," Tabitha commented. She didn't recognize him because of all the blood that coated him. "Listen things like this happen all the time," she knelt by him. She looked as though she were about to put a hand on his shoulder but thought better of it because of the blood. Tabitha gasped.

"She's breathing-" Abel breathed, disbelief in his voice. The girls breathing were ragged and her heart beat was louder and faster then normal but she was still alive. Abel gently picked her up, bridal style. He looked at Tabitha, pleading.

Tabitha nodded, "out of everyone here, her condition is the most severe." She called to one of the men. "Make getting this child to the hospital your top priority," she ordered. The man saluted her before turning to Abel and taking the child from him. "You should also go with him, you're bleeding a lot."

"I'm not hurt," Abel said, as he watched the man gently put the girl in a jeep. He jumped into it and drove off. It would take at least twenty minutes for them to get to the hospital. "Besides they already left."

Tabitha snorted, "just because you took care of all those men don't go thinking that you're all high and mighty, mr." she was using joking tones, but it was still laced in worry. She didn't believe him. Her hand moved to her ear.

Something in Abel's pocket began to vibrate. He fished out Seth's radio. Just great, Tabitha was calling him. Tabitha glanced down at him.

"Why do you have that radio?" Tabitha asked, "It's only to be given to those of higher ranking." She snatched it away from him, it was still vibrating. Her eyes widened, "No way-"

"I promise I'll tell you everything later when I tell-"

"You're Abel's kid aren't you!"

"What!" Abel yelped.

"You're that kid who was in his office, I thought you looked a lot like him. It would also explain why you're so good at fighting," Tabitha said.

"I'm not! I am Abel!" he yelled. He resisted the urge to hit her and sighed instead. His temper was on the blitz today, maybe it was puberty all over again. "I'm Abel- pft you wouldn't even believe me if I told you," he shook his head.

"How can you be the Lieutenant colonel? You're just a kid," Tabitha said, she looked as if she were about to tell every one the news about him having a kid.

"If you want I'll tell you once I get to the hospital. I need to tell Lilith and Seth everything so I might as well tell you then as well," Abel explained. "Besides I want to make sure that kid's okay."

"What about your uncle Cain?" Tabitha asked.

"He's an idiot! There's no way I'm going to talk to him!" Abel vowed.

(a few hours later)

Abel had never been so irritated before in his life. Okay, so maybe he had, but this was more of a 'are you serious,' type of irritated mixed with a 'could you stop asking questions.'

When he got to the hospital Lilith had told him that the girl's condition was stable and about twenty minutes later her parents came to check up on her. They had asked him many questions and kept on saying that they wanted to make it up to him. He had also told Lilith, Seth and Tabitha about his condition and why he was here, both Seth and Tabitha kept asking him questions about the future, but it was more out of disbelief then anything. The only one who seemed to believe him fully was Lilith, but he wasn't irritated because all of this. It was because of an uninvited person.

Hate, bad, irritating, idiot, mentally insane, and the majority of all swear words in different languages, ect. If Abel could make a word that was the worst word of all, the most horrible word to ever say, that included all these, it would be cain.

Every time someone mentioned that name or even said something about an elderly person using a cane, or said sugar cane, his mind always drifted to horrible things. Yes, you guessed it. Abel's pissed because somehow his twin just happened to be visiting the hospital and had been eve's dropping when he told Lilith and the others everything. If it weren't for Lilith he would have already pummeled the idiot.

"Would you let me go?" Abel barked the question, as he pushed his 'younger' brother away.

"But you're so little!" Cain smiled with his eyes closed, it was a fake smile. It was the same look he wore when he told Abel he had killed- no he couldn't think like that.

"Abel," Lilith warned. She was using the voice of a mother, Tabitha and Seth chuckled.

Abel held back a sharp retort. Instead he settled for glaring at Cain, even though he would sooner kill him. At least then Lilith would still be alive and all those millions of people wouldn't have died.

Cain squeezed him tighter and he squirmed, he could feel his brothers breath on his neck. His brother licked him, "get off me!" Abel snapped. He easily got out of Cain's grasp and hit him in the gut, with enough force that it sent him slamming into a wall.

"Abel!" Lilith scolded as she rushed to Cain's side. "You really need to watch that temper of yours! Really, a hundred year old loosing his temper, you're no better then you are- were when you were 30!"

"Wow, you sure are strong!" Cain said as he stood up, he pushed away Lilith's offered hand and stood up on his own, he didn't even look affected by the punch.

"But he-" Abel tried to defend himself, but cut off at Lilith's look. He hated disappointing her. "I'm sorry," he grunted.

Lilith sighed and nodded her head. "I'll need a sample of your blood, and it might take a while to finally make a cure."

* * *

**A/N:** When Abel told everyone about why he was there and about the future part he lied and said he was only a hundred, he also didn't explain about how Cain was the one who sent him there.

**Notice:** I don't own Tabitha, Kayson, or Darin. Flame800900 does.


	6. Chapter 6

(present)

Cain sat in a leather couch. His six white wing where spread behind him. Soon 02's nano machines would awaken and they would become one; like how they were always meant to be. A wicked smile grew on his thin lips.

"Sir," Isaac walked into the room. Usually Cain would have snapped at the man for walking in without knocking but he would make an exception today, since he had his brother. "I put sleeping gas in one of the vents leading into 02's room. He's sleeping right now," Isaac informed him.

"Good. Did you take a sample of his blood?" Cain asked.

Isaac nodded. "The crusnik should awaken in about a week. However the lights in his room are also UV, so it'll only take half that time. About four days at most, as long as the lights don't go off," he informed Cain. "Mein Heir, once the time nears it might be best to move him out of the base. I don't know how he will react to this sudden amount of power, and he's only had the crusnik in him for a few months. Awakening them so soon could hold consequences."

Cain debated on this. There was no doubt that if the base was destroyed, it would be investigated by the queen of Albion. On top of that it would interfere with his regeneration. "In three days we'll leave Londinium," Cain announced. "We'll head out at night fall, and head for the ruins."

(3 days later)

Abel opened his eye's into slits he hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep. By the looks of it, it was midnight. He blinked a few times and rolled off the bed and stood in the small area in front of the door. Stretching he noticed a pair of clothes on the side of the bed. Picking it up he changed into them. It was completely white except for the vines of blue that ran through it. On the collar of his shirt was a thin lining of silver. The shirt had an opening on the back but it was covered by a plate of armer and the cape he was given. Just as he finished dressing, the door to his room opened up to Cain.

"We're going out of town for a bit," Cain said excitedly. "I want to show you some old ruins. There's also something I need to get, to make a new device to get you back to your time," he took Abel's hand and started down the hall.

"But its the middle of the night, shouldn't we wait until morning?" Abel asked.

"Nope, nope, nope," Cain smiled. "To important, we need to leave now."

Abel pulled his hand away from Cain but continued following his brother. He could tell Cain was keeping something from, by the way he was acting but Abel didn't say anything. After all his brother only did what he thought best. There was no way he would purposely put Abel in danger.

"Is Isaac coming with us?" Abel asked as Cain opened the door and stepped out into the moonlight.

"Yup, he's already there." Cain turned and stopped walking suddenly. Abel stopped as well. "We're being followed," his brother informed him.

"How-" Abel cut off as Cain raised a hand, for silence.

Cain grabbed Abel by his collar and swung him over his shoulder, like he was a rag doll. Abel blinked and the next thing he knew, they were zipping across the city. The crisp night are buffed into him. His eye's were locked on a figure who had appeared right where they had been a second ago. The young girl cursed, said something but it sounded like it was in an ancient language of sorts mixed with english. Perhaps Abel couldn't make it out because they were to far. She looked oddly familiar. Abel shook his head, how was that possible? Everyone he had known from his time were dead except his brother.

Suddenly Cain slowed and came to a stop. He released Abel. They were at a bunch of ruins by the look of it, Abel turned to the direction they had just come from. It as amazing that Cain could run so fast, he turned back to his brother. Strands of blond hair fell in front of him, then thud. Cain collapsed, and a second later Isaac ran up to him.

Abel blinked. So then his brother wasn't the only one that could run that fast. He looked back at Cain, who had rolled over onto his back, gasping for breath.

"You shouldn't be over exerting yourself," Isaac said. "Here drink this," he handed Cain a bottle of red wine, his brother took it gratefully and downed it in a few famished gulps.

"How did you manage to run that fast?" Abel asked, his voice was unnaturally calm. "And how did you know someone was following us? I didn't see anyone-" he broke off when he remembered the girl.

"It's called haste," Cain said as he slowly sat up, he winced.

"Are you okay?"

"To many questions," Cain pouted. "First of all, methuselah and crusniks can enter a state of haste which is what you just saw." At Abel's confused look he explained, "the people with basilisk in their system are called methuselah," Abel nodded in understanding. "As for why I knew someone was following us, it's kind of hard to explain, but you'll get it soon enough once 02 awakens."

"So why did you just collapse suddenly?" Abel asked suspicion clouding his mind. Why was his brother dodging the question?

Cain sighed and looked away, his gaze became down cast. "When the UN came for us I tried fighting back one of them managed to injure me greatly and my wounds haven't completely healed yet," Cain croaked. His eyes looked glazed over as if her were living through a past event.

"So what was it you wanted to show me?" Abel questioned, wanting to change the subject.

"It's a surprise," Cain teased. Abel nudged him playfully. "Fine, fine, I actually wanted you to come here because the Crusnik will be awakening some time today," he explained. "Yup, yup, yup. It's a happy day!"

"But I've only been here for only a day," Abel said, now highly confused.

"It's actually been three days."

"What!"

"You had something like a jet lag- I think that's what you call it- but in your case it's to the extreme, since you were traveling across time," Isaac explained for Cain.

Abel stared at his brother. Was he serious? Why hadn't anybody woken him up? "Okay- So what does coming here have to do with the crusnik activating?"

Cain shrugged, "nothing really I just thought a change of scenery would be nice. Here," Cain handed him another bottle of wine, "try it."

Taking the bottle from Cain Abel eyed it. The last time he drank alcohol he had gotten drunk. On top of that it didn't even taste good, how did people drink that stuff anyway? Abel looked at Cain who was smiling at him. He uncapped the bottle with his thumb and sniffed it.

It smelt sweet, not at all like how wine usually smelt. He swished the liquid around the bottle, if he only looked at it he would have said it was blood, but it didn't smell like it at all. "What is this?" He finally asked.

"Chteau La Mondotte Saint-Emilion," Cain answered, at the same time Isaac said, "blood." Abel looked at them, what did Isaac just say? Cain shot Isaac a look, "it's a type of wine."

Abel looked at them then back at the bottle. He could feel something pricking on the inside of his mouth. He brought it to his lips and took a sip. The cool liquid washed over his tongue and slid down his throat. It was sweeter then anything he had ever tasted before. He could also taste a small hint restorative sugar in it, which added to it's taste.

"Interesting," he set the bottle on the ground. He wanted to drink more, but didn't. Something in his mouth bothered him, he ran his tongue over his teeth, but felt no difference.

Cain chuckled and Abel turned to him. "Try jumping, or listening to something," Cain advised him. "The nano machines are already partially activated so your senses should be enhanced and you should be stronger," he explained.

XXX

Seth cursed and pulled her dagger out of the ground. She looked in the direction Cain had run off in but could only see a dark cape bellowing behind him. No matter how fast she ran she wouldn't be able to catch up to him. Seth sheathed her dagger and cursed again. She could have sworn she saw Abel, but shook the thought away. There was no way he was going to ever join Cain.

"I lost sight of the target," Seth said into the radio. "They're heading to the old ruins of Albion, Asthe you're closer, so keep an eye on it but don't do anything until I get there. Lord Welsh, Ion, the both of you head for the ruins, we'll circle around it until taking action."

"On it," Ion said at the same time Virgil said, "of course."

A few seconds later Asthe reported in. "I'm at the ruins, there's a methuselah here," there was a short pause, then a gasp. "Abel and someone else just got here. The other man has just collapsed, I'm guessing he's also a methuselah since he used haste.

"What are they doing?" Seth asked as she entered haste. Wind whipped past her, and it howled in her ears.

"Talking, the one that collapsed just drank a bottle of wine," Asthe answered. "I can't hear what they're saying from here, should I go in closer?"

* * *

**A/N**: gah, brain-fart.

Please continue reviewing


	7. Chapter 7

(past)

Abel stared at the roof of the room he was given. Lilith and Tabitha had convinced him, it would be best if he wasn't seen near his old office, or his room. People would get suspicious and rumors would start about him having a kid. So instead of getting the larger rooms that he really didn't need, he was given a smaller room that was part of Tabitha's family suite. When Tabitha finally had a child of her own this room would be given to it, or her to be more exact.

During his stay here, he would be seen as Tabitha's nephew. Tabitha kept joking about saying he was her son, but he refused and she finally gave up. Abel shook his head, Tabitha was just as he remembered her. Full of spirit and always joking about the little things, but when it came to work she was dead serious and would wake up the whole colony if need be, just to get one answer. In fact, she had already woken him up countless times asking him what he would do in certain situations. Thank God he didn't live with her when he was still a Nightlord, there would have been countless sleepless nights, instead of just a few every week. Abel rolled on his side and looked at the plain door. She didn't always make fun of him like she had the last few days, it must have been because there was still a part of her that didn't believe he was who he said he was. But that was just fine with him.

Jumping off the bed, Abel decided it was high time he got out for a while. His whole stay here only consisted of staying in this small room, with frequent visits from Tabitha, Lilith and Seth. It was a miracle that Cain hadn't come to see him yet. Abel slipped out the of the room and entered the living room. A couple couches lined the wall with a coffee table in the middle. On the opposite wall was a small holographic device that was their version of a TV.

Kayson was seated in one of the couches reading a book. He didn't seem to notice Abel had come out of his room. He was supposed to be Abel's watch dog, or guard as Lilith had put it, but Abel saw no difference. On silent feet Abel quickly made his way to the and turned the knob. He glanced back at Kayson who still didn't notice. Sucking in air he opened the door wide and bolted through it and shut it as quickly and silently as he could. The door clicked and Abel bolted down the hall, down the stairs, and out of the building.

"Sorry Kayson," Abel said to himself, as he looked back at the building.

"Sorry for what?" pain exploded through Abel's ear. He had forgotten about the radio. "You need to get back here right now!" it was Tabitha. "By the way," Abel's hand stopped right as he was about to pull the radio from his ear. "even if you do throw the radio away, I'll still know where you are. Did you really think you could try running away without me noticing? We have two tracking devices on you."

"But I don't have any paper work to do, so I don't see why I need to stay in that room," Abel stated. He rolled his eyes and slipped into one of the ally ways.

"Did you want paper work? I'm sure your younger self would appreciate the help," Tabitha said, she sounded like she was testing him.

"No thanks, I think I would prefer looking around the colony instead." Abel took off his coat and began inspecting it for any bugs. "Besides he needs to learn to stop procrastinating."

"He?" The voice came through his radio as well as to his left. "You are him, and I agree. You do need to learn to stop procrastinating," Tabitha grinned down at him, and took his hand.

"But he's not even here right now," Abel pointed out. "We can't teach him anything if he's not here." Nobody had any clue where Abel Nightlord went. Lilith had guessed that the two had switched places but Abel wasn't sure, since he didn't remember anything about going to the future when he was younger. The colony was under the impression that he was excavating another part of mars, and wouldn't be back for a while.

"That's right so instead you'll be the one learning," Tabitha said. "It's been hard doing all his paper work, and the major is of no help at all. So you'll be doing his part of the paper work."

"I'm sorry, but wouldn't it be strange for a kid to be doing work? Besides my handwriting is different then his," Abel played dumb.

"Stop making excuses. You are him, even if you're from the future. Unless you have a split personality your handwriting should be the same," a grin grew on Tabitha's face. "I also remember that you made a stamp with your signature on it, and a few with different responses. All of them look exactly like your handwriting so you could use that, Mr. Laziness.

"How did you know that?" Abel yelped, Tabitha shrugged. Abel shook his head, "what if I joined your task force?" he asked feebly, already knowing the answer.

"Nope, to dangerous, besides you look like a kid right now. People would think I was crazy if I let you on."

"Aren't I supposed to be the Lieutenant Colonel, and you my second? So shouldn't you be listening to me, and not the other way around? Besides I'm older then you."

"But you were just talking as if you weren't the Lieutenant Colonel," Tabitha shot back.

"Fine," Abel resisted the urge to frown and sighed instead. "But, first you need to tell me how you knew about those stamps," Abel had already guessed it was Seth, she had a knack for going through his belongings.

"You told me," Tabitha chuckled. "I gave you some wine to try since you said you never had any before, and you got drunk," she said, as she tried to restrain herself from laughing, it was a loosing battle.

"I don't remember that," Abel said, as he pondered this.

"Of course not. You were drunk, you wouldn't remember anything, and if you did it would probably be foggy," Tabitha shook her head. "You sure are strange sir. Even now, when you're a hundred." Abel snorted and rolled his eyes.

XXX

"What the hell is all this?" Abel complained, as he flipped through the stack of papers Tabitha had brought in. "I don't remember there being this much."

"Well nobody has been going through it in the last couple of days," Tabitha said as she placed another stack of paper on the coffee table. "By the way this isn't even a quarter of what

"I could bet my life that more then fifty percent of this is because of complaints from the representatives. Hasn't there been an announcement that the UN abandoned us?"

"Nope we haven't announced anything yet, but a few of the people are already guessing that, that's what happened, and have told their friends," Tabitha answered. "By word of mouth everyone knows but some of them don't want to believe it. Namely the representatives, they're afraid of loosing their high ranking."

Abel sighed and ran his hand through his long hair, his fingers caught in his ribbon and he pulled it out. He looked over the first few papers, and signed them.

"Can you get my book from the shelf?" Abel asked. "It's in my office, it's the only book on the shelf," he didn't look up, but he could tell Tabitha didn't want to leave him, for fear that he might try getting out of his work. "Don't worry I'll stay right here."

The door opened and closed with a snap, but Abel didn't look up. He spread the documents on the large coffee and began reading through them. By the time he was half way done, Tabitha came with his book. Opening it, he jotted down a few notes off the top of his head, before signing one of the papers.

"Have someone deliver those," Abel pointed to a small stack of documents at the corner of the coffee table. His finger glided across the table and landed on another stack, "file these." He flipped through another document, signed it then wrote a few notes in his book. "Once you come back, we can discuses your plans," he waved a folder in the air before putting it down next to him.

"Ye-yes, of course," Tabitha picked up the two stacks of paper and made her way to the door.

"Oh, and bring me the other documents that I'm supposed to go over. All of it, not just those due tomorrow," Abel ordered. Tabitha nodded and rushed out the door.

A stack of papers were placed on the coffee table, and Abel looked up. It was Tabitha. He hadn't been paying to the time.

"I delivered all the papers and filed the documents," Tabitha reported. "These are all of the other documents that will be due this month."

Abel nodded and passed Tabitha the folder. Sorting through the documents she just brought in Abel spoke, "I think your proposal is a good idea. I took a few notes on it, just make some changes to it, and I'll have it passed." Abel leaned against the couch and stretched his legs under the table. "Oh, just one thing," Tabitha's smile dropped. "You'll need to tell the Nightlord, about this, when he gets back."

"So it is a good idea then?"

"Of course it is. I wouldn't have said anything about signing it if I didn't. I think passing a few laws to ensure the peoples safety would be a good idea, it'll also help the calm the people once we announce that the UN has abandoned us," Abel said.

"What? But how are we going to do that?" Tabitha asked. "You're a kid people won't take you seriously, and unless it's you or Cain the people won't believe us."

"I'm leaving a note for the Nightlord," Abel said cooly. "Your laws won't be passed fully installed until after he comes back. I'll be leaving him a few notes about what to announce and about your laws, as well as a few other things he should be aware of."

"Why do you call your younger self Nightlord, when you are a Nightlord?" Tabitha asked as she sat down on the couch and began reading the notes Abel had given her.

"Because I changed my last name, to Night_road. _Besides it feels strange calling him, me, or my younger self," Abel shrugged.

"Thats not much of a difference," Tabitha pointed out, making small talk.

"But there still is. It would take an idiot not to notice it," Abel shot back, he flipped his pen between his fingers, something he used to only do in his younger years.

"It would also take an idiot to not see the similarities," Tabitha teased.

Abel began looking over the documents again and signed a few. He guessed that he'd be done with all of it by the end of the day. It felt strange, usually he would do everything in his power to avoid doing work, but today he found it oddly easy and... fun. Abel summed it up to boredom.

"Like I didn't notice," Abel smirked.

* * *

**A/N:**

Please review, it really helps.


	8. Chapter 8

(present)

"How much longer are we going to sit here, staring at nothing?" Abel asked, sarcastically, as he pointed back to town. Abel felt as if he were about to go crazy. He couldn't understand how Cain could just sit there doing nothing, like he had been for the past couple of hours. Sure he was old and time probably passed by quickly for him, but still. Jeez, if he ever got that old he hopped he wouldn't be a lump on the log like this geezer. "Nothing's going to happen. Maybe the crusnik has already awakened," Abel said hopefully.

"Just wait another hour," Cain said.

"That's what you said an hour ago!" Abel countered. "I'm going to walk around for a bit. And I'm going whether you like it or not!" The past couple of times he had asked to walk around the ruins, Cain had said no.

"But the sun will be coming out any time now, don't you want to watch it?" Cain whined.

"It's two in the morning, Cain. And unless the days got shorter in the past nine centuries, the sun won't be rising until at least another four hours," Abel pointed out. Why was Cain acting like an idiot, when he really wasn't? "I'll be back in an hour," Abel said. He walked to the edge of the building and jumped down.

Abel slipped into what looked like it used to be an alleyway and followed it. He could hear Cain shifting above him. His senses had multiplied ten fold. Being a genetically enhanced human, or test tube baby, Abel's senses had always been a few times better then the average human but now it was much better. It almost hurt, if someone yelled right now, he felt as if he would go deaf.

Coming to a building with part of a roof, Abel slipped into it. "I know you're there," he spoke to the darkness. He had been aware of someone's presence ever since arriving at the ruins, but he thought it was just his imagination. After getting away from his brother, his feeling of someone following him only increased.

A rock rolled across the dirt and Abel looked toward the place it just came from. _"Why are you speaking in the empires language?"_ a woman's voice asked. Abel frowned, she was speaking an ancient language. How could this be? The lady stepped forward. She had short blond hair, with a red stripe. She held a spear in her hand, Abel recognized it as the sword of Gae Bolg. "_Anyway, it's good to see that you're not short anymore. How'd you get your body back?" _she continued talking in Latin. Abel needed to listen carefully to catch the words.

"I'm sorry, but I think you have me confused with someone else," Abel said in Latin.

"Uh-huh," the women looked at him in disbelief. "Nice try tovarish. But you'll need to do something else then just cut your hair if you want to convince me that you're not Abel Nightroad."

Abel stiffened at the sound of his first name but the last name was off so he found himself relaxing. "That's not my name," Abel stated, "in any case you really should get going. My brother tends to get jumpy when he thinks someone is following him," Abel said. Remembering what happened to one of Abel's men that he had ordered to follow Cain, back at mars.

"So what is your name then?" she ignored what he had said about his brother.

"It's rude to ask for ones name without giving yours first."

"Astharoshe Asran, Duchess of Kiev and Odessa, and the holder of the sword of Gae Bolg," she stated without pause.

"That's a long name, Lady Asran," Abel restrained the urge to snap at this lady for not leaving him alone.

Astharoshe smirked, "since when did you have manners? Granted as a terran you should be using my full title but still." Abel looked at her questioningly, had he said something wrong? He went over what he had just said, it had sounded right. Then again the latin this person spoke was a bit off. "So what's your name? If it isn't Abel then what can it be? Idiot, perhaps?"

"I don't think I want to give it to you," Abel growled. Like he was going to giver her his name after she called him an idiot. Besides what if she was with the UN? If she was, all she needed was his name and she would turn on him, the second she heard it. Abel spun on his heels and walked down another alleyway. He was sure that he heard several more voices. He knew he should be scared but somehow he wasn't.

Abel came to a stop when he saw three figures standing behind one of the buildings. His eyes adjusted to the darkness. Two where male and the other was a female. The males had blond hair while the female's hair was black. Abel took a step closer and the three of them turned.

"Asthe you found him," an oddly familiar voice said. It came from the female. That couldn't be right, Seth was supposed to be dead. "So Abel, did you find the leader of the orden?" the girl asked. She shot him a look, as if saying they could talk about this later.

"I think getting his body back, made him an idiot again," Astharoshe said from behind him. "The man that was with him is still on top of one of the buildings," she pointed in the direction that Cain was. Abel felt his blood go cold, they were after Cain!

Abel clenched his fists at his side. They where the ones that made all his siblings and Lilith go through all that suffering. So what if they were from the future. They were the from the UN, the fact they had been spying on him told Abel that much. Then there was that girl who looked exactly like Seth. Abel could feel a growl catching in his throat.

Astharoshe took a step closer to the small group before him. She was only a foot away from him. Twisting his leg Abel delivered a fierce kick to her side before pushing a pressure point in her neck. The other three took a few steps back, they didn't seem mad like how Abel expected them to be. It was more like surprise, why was this. Abel pushed his thoughts away and turned to them, they didn't even put their hands up in defense. They were now wearing looks of confusion and a bit of anger.

Snarling, Abel lunged at the blond haired boy. Something told him the child wasn't normal, but he still attacked the child anyway. Abel hit the back of his knees before taking hold of his hand and swinging the child into the other two.

Without looking back, Abel sprinted as fast as he could, back to his brother, he needed to warn him. He could feel his legs tingling, but he continued running. He was running almost as fast as his brother had on their way here. If it weren't for those people he would have been happy.

XXX

"Cain! It's the UN. The UN followed us!" Abel yelled from somewhere below him.

Cain frowned the UN where all dead. It took him a moment to remember what he told Abel. It must have been 03 and all her friends. Cain stood up and straitened, at least she didn't tell Abel the truth. Then again he did get to him first. Cain smirked at his cunning.

"Cain!" Abel jumped onto the roof and ran to him. Cain's smile deepened, the crusnik was almost fully activated. 02 was using haste. "Come on," 02 took hold of Cain's hand and pulled him. Cain almost tripped, from the strength his brother had.

Digging his boots into the ground, Cain forced Abel to stop running. "The UN," Cain forced his voice to shake in fear and hate at the same time. In the end 02 was always easier to manipulate when angry. "They're going to pay for everything," he growled the words. Cain unsheathed a sword he had kept hidden under his coat. Not even 02 would have seen it.

"Cain!" 03 was the first to jump onto the roof. Two others followed after her one of them was caring the limp form of a female. 02 must have fought with them before coming to get him. Cain recognized all of them from when Isaac reported them, being with the shorter 02. "What did you tell Abel?" 03 snarled the question, she had drawn both of her daggers and held them underhand.

"Nothing but the truth," Cain lied. He could feel himself tensing. If 03 revealed the truth, his plans would be ruined.

"What truth is that?" 03 barked. Two of the methuselah entered haste and started charging at him. 03 was only a few seconds behind.

The older male Methuselah who Cain recognized as Virgil, attacked him first. He drew a small pocket knife and fainted before ducking. The real attack was from the smaller methuselah, Ion. Cain caught the boys wrist and twisted it forcing him to release the dagger. He brought the boy closer to him, and opened his mouth ready to drink in the blood, but was forced to release him when 03 threw a knife at him.

The two methuselah moved and attacked as a group. They adjusted to react to each others movement. When Seth joined in, their attacks adjusted again, to accommodate her.

"Like I'm going to trust you UN bastards!" Abel snarled and joined the fight. "Even if Cain is keeping something from me, at least he's my brother!" he started fighting the two methuselah, leaving 03 to Cain.

"Abel what's gotten into you!" 03's yell whipped through the clanging of weapons.

"Don't try acting like my sister! You're nothing more then the UN's lab rat! Why are you even with them?" Abel shouted.

"He's only using you!"

A second later he appeared by Cain's side and started attacking 03. The other two had been dealt with already. Cain could have laughed, this 02 was so trusting just like the other one had been. To bad 03 was right.

"You're from the past aren't you?" 03 gasped, her attacks slowed but she continued them. All of them where aimed for Cain, but thanks to 02 he didn't need to dodge anything. Cain could tell that 02's attacks where also slowing. He was obviously confused.

"Don't listen to her Abel. She's trying to get us to turn on each other," Cain cried.

The reaction was immediate. 02's attacks became faster then they were before. He threw a punch then slashed out with his foot. 03 jumped in the air, but 02 slammed into her and held her on the ground. He had one of her knives in his hand, and it was pressed against her neck. Ah, the young were so easy to control. He was even better then the other Abel, maybe he wouldn't take his body just yet.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm going camping this weekend so I probably won't be able to update anything, on saturday or sunday.

Please review.


	9. Chapter 9

(past)

Soft breathing, sounded in the room. Abel turned to look at the sleeping form of Tabitha. They had been working for nearly six hours. Her folder sat on her lap with a document on it, and a pencil was held loosely in her hand. It looked like it was about to fall. Abel turned and signed the last of the documents, before taking the pencil and folder from Tabitha.

"I would offer you a drink," Kayson's voice was muffled thanks to the wall that separated them. "But with rations, I'm afraid I can't," he stepped into the living room with a blanket draped over his arm. He gently set it over Tabitha.

"It's fine, I'm not thirsty anyway," Abel whispered, as to not wake Tabitha.

"I didn't believe Tabitha when she told me about you being the lieutenant colonel but after seeing your blood work, I can't say other wise. On top of that you did all of that work," Kayson pointed to the stack off papers. It covered nearly half of the table.

"I wouldn't have believed it either," Abel responded.

"Your blood is very interesting. The crusnik in it is activated at a higher level then the others here. But- I think- think," Kayson sighed and shrugged. "I would say that the crusnik is deactivating, but at the same time it isn't. Truthfully I don't know what's happening to it, not even Lilith or Seth fully understands it."

Abel grunted, and shrugged.

"In order for Lilith to find a cure for your… condition, she'll need to understand the crusnik. I know that Seth is working with her on this but it could take ages to find this cure, let alone study the crusnik at this level of activation," Kayson gave Abel a worried look.

"If she doesn't find a cure then it's really fine. After all I know for a fact that Nightlord will come back, and that I'll be going back to my time, if not then I die." Kayson gave him a weird look. "Well I've never seen a mini me, when I was younger," Abel confessed and shrugged.

"Tabitha said that you could finally smile, but you're still the same serious person," Kayson remarked. "You're not a very positive person are you? Even after all these years."

"Hmm," Abel looked at Kayson and cocked an eye brow. 'I'm sorry, it's just that I have a lot on my mind right now," Abel said truthfully. He gave Kayson a small smile, Kayson smirked. "What? Haven't you ever seen a person thinking before?" Abel joked, giving Kayson another smile. Kayson shrugged with a smile, and shook his head. "Anyway, tell Tabitha that I'm done with all that paper work," he pointed the to the stacks of paper that covered more then half of the table. He picked up a few documents and walked to the door and stepped out of it. This time Kayson made no move to stop him.

(a few hours later)

"How did you do that?" Seth demanded and stood up, so that she towered over Abel. "Not even Abel-" Seth scrunched up her face, when she remembered that she was talking to Abel, just an older version that looked younger. "Could convince Cain to do anything," she ended, still thinking about what to call her Abel from her time.

They were on the roof of one of the smaller buildings, and Abel had his feet dangling over the edge. They were turned away from the city and were looking out of the dome. Miles of red land stretched out before them.

"You could just call him Nightlord, and call me Nightroad," Abel pointed out. "After all I did change my last name."

"Yeah, I guess I could," Seth thought on that. A few moments later she exclaimed, "hey! You did that on purpose! Stop changing the subjected."

"All I did was ask him nicely," Abel said with the same bored expression he'd been wearing for the past few hours. It was starting to bug Seth. She could tell he was lying. She crossed her arms and glared down at him. He finally looked up, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Well he wasn't busy so-"

"Pft, he's never busy!" Seth broke in. "You do know that all he ever does is just send his work over to you right?" Abel looked at her confused. "Ever since his accident, he's done nothing. In fact the only thing he has done is give all his work to you, eat and sleep, and irritate people, and-" Seth started listing ever thing Cain had been doing, for the past few months.

"Oh look at the time," Abel looked at his imaginary watch on his wrist and stood up. "I need to go. Lilith would be furious with me if I missed another appointment."

"Yeah, right. I bet you just don't want to talk to me," Seth joked even though she was a bit hurt.

Light tapping from the stair way alerted Seth that someone was coming. She turned and could see Abel doing the same at the corner of her eye. The tapping stopped. Well that was weird. She was about to turn back to Abel when the door burst open. At once ten armed men surrounded her and Abel.

"What is the meaning of this?" Seth demanded, as she glared at the closest man. They all wore black. Each of them wore bullet proof jackets and heavy duty boots. The country they represented was printed on the back of their jackets, with a flag.

"Just don't tell me that Alaric is behind all this," Abel mumbled from besides her. Seth looked at Abel, at a time like this, he was worried about Alaric? She shook her head, and continued glaring at the men.

"I demand that you tell me who set you up to this!" Seth yelled at the men. Real anger flashed in her eyes, a few men flinched, but didn't back up. "If you don't tell me this instant I'll report you to my brother, Abel Nightlord," she threatened.

A few of the men raised their guns and took aim at her and Abel. One of the men shot a tranquilizer at Abel, but he easily dodged it.

"That's weird," Abel commented, with a puzzled expression. "I thought, tranquilizers and other drugs were supposed to be locked under bolt and key. Only our leaders and their men are allowed to have access to them."

"You're pretty smart for a kid," the circle of men parted in the middle, revealing a blond haired man. "Or is it because you're actually the child of Abel Nightlord?" the man continued he had an evil smile on his face, as he looked down at Abel.

Seth could see anger glinting in Abel's eyes, she blinked. His eyes looked like they were tinted red. He looked ready to spring at Alaric and his men. Seth knew that Alaric always caused trouble for the Abel from her time, but he never showed any of his irritation. Usually, he would laugh at Alaric's attempts to get him out of office.

"So how did you get them?" Abel spat the question. He glared up at the taller man.

"Connections," Alaric replied smoothly, he didn't seem fazed by the fact that Abel's eyes had turned red or the fact that he had pointy canines sticking out the side of his mouth.

"And why do you have them aimed at us?" Abel snarled, as he balled his hands into fists.

"Well you see, young man. A few days ago you injured several of my men," Alaric began. "Because of you more then half our forces have quit. All I want is a bit of revenge," a dagger flashed in his hand, and he flipped it in the air. "And I'm going to kidnap you and use you against Abel Nightlord. After all you are his kid, are you not? I've never seen someone with silvery hair like yours except him," he chuckled.

"I don't mind if you harm me, but keep Seth out of this," Abel moved into a more lax position. He couldn't be serious could he? It was clear to Seth, that Alaric meant real harm.

"Trying to be a hero, are we?"

Alaric raised his hand then brought it down. His men took aim and fired, most of them were aimed for Abel but a few of them were also targeting Seth. It was to sudden, she didn't have time to dodge. Seth closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the incoming tranquilizers mixed in with the bullets. It never came. Slowly she opened her eyes. Abel had his back turned toward her, his hands were out stretched with a few tranquilizers caught between his fingers. Seth found herself breath a sigh of relief. It caught in her throat. Abel fell to his knees. The tranquilizers must have hit him, she tried convincing herself, but she knew that bullets must have also hit him. Blood started to pool around him.

"Damn," Abel muttered, as he rolled on his side and pressed his hand against his stomach to stop the bleeding. Seth could see a few holes in his white shirt that was slowly turning red from the blood. A few tranquilizers stuck out.

Seth froze where she was, her mind was telling her body to move, but she found herself frozen in that spot. She stared wide eyed at Abel, his breathing was jagged, and came in short, fast gasps. He clenched his teeth.

"Take the girl," Alaric ordered, "I'll deal with the boy." He knelt down by Abel, and put his hand on Abel's chin, forcing him to look at his face. Alaric grinned, "we could have used someone like you in our military. To bad you're already half dead!" he half grunted half laughed as he stood up and kicked Abel in the side.

Seth's attention was drawn back to the other men, as they neared her with a needle. One of the men grabbed her by the arm and took the needle in his hand. It was filled with tranquilizers.

"Run Seth!" Abel barked the order. Seth didn't need to be told twice. At his words she snapped out of it. She punched the man who held her wrist, before whipping around and jumping from one roof to the next. A few tranquilizers were shot at her, but all of them missed. She could hear Alaric saying that it didn't matter, as long as they had Abel. Seth could feel a tear in her eye. How could she just leave him like that, after Abel had saved her?

**A/N:** I'm back from my short camping trip. I got a super bad sun burn. I should really consider listening to my mom next time she tells me to put on lotion. It burns!

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. If you guys think Seth running away, is weird I do as well. I only had her run away because she is still young and I want there to be a difference between the younger Seth and the older one. Anyway, please review.

**Notice:** I don't own, Tabitha, Kayson, Darin, or Alaric. Flame800900 does.


	10. Chapter 10

(Present)

The dagger was pressed against the girls throat. She looked so much like Seth that Abel found himself holding his breath. Could he really end the life of someone who looked exactly like his sister? She had short black hair and emerald green eyes. She wasn't even trying to struggle against his hold, almost as if she knew he wouldn't could kill her. Behind Abel, he could hear Cain walking up to him. A hand was on his shoulder a second later.

"Good job Abel," Cain said, Abel glanced at him. "The UN has been cloning Lilith and Seth for the past few decades. I'm sure that she's one of them." Abel squeezed his hand holding the dagger harder. "Kill her," Cain whispered into his ears. Abel tensed and stared into the girls eyes. She had understanding and love in them, no hate.

"I- I can't," Abel's voice shook, but he made no move to get off of her. He could feel the girl's muscles relax, and she let out a low sigh of relief. Cain squeezed his shoulder tighter, and shook him..

"She's part of the UN," he hissed. The grip tightened and Abel flinched. Cain was using enough force to break his shoulder if he had been human.

"I won't," Abel said, stronger this time. His throat felt hoarse.

"I'll do it then," Cain snapped. The grip on his shoulder vanished. Cain snatched the dagger out of Abel's hand. Abel could hear someone gasp, whether it was him or someone else he didn't know. All that mattered was the girl was about to die. He watched in slow motion as the dagger was brought closer to her throat. Why wasn't she trying to get away! Abel could hear the question being yelled in his head.

"Get away from the empress!" Astharoshe snarled and bulled herself into Cain. The dagger clattered on the ground, as he was forced to the ground, much like how Abel forced the girl to the ground.

Cain needed help. Abel looked back at the girl that he still held down, then back at Cain as he struggled to get up. His brother coughed up blood. He was still weak. Without a second thought Abel released the girl and grabbed the dagger. He threw it at Astharoshe, forcing her to release Cain. He only managed to take a few steps toward his brother, when he felt someone hit him in the gut. He looked down, and followed the arm to it's owner. It was the girl that looked like Seth. The girl jumped back and hit him in the back of his neck. The world swam before his eyes. He could feel himself hit the cold roof. The world became dark.

XXX

Abel groaned as he slowly blinked open his eyes. His ears were ringing and his head was pounding. The light that filtered through the crack in the door was bright, causing Abel to blink. He rolled off his bed and slowly stood up. Goodness, did he feel horrible. Abel rubbed the back of his neck and stretched.

Where was he again? Oh yeah, that's right, that girl knocked him out. Great, was he back with the UN? Abel hoped that Cain was okay, he thought about how Cain had coughed up blood before he knocked out. Abel shivered, hopefully he was able to get away. His attention was drawn to several voices coming from behind the door.

"I'm going to talk to him," the first voice said. It sounded like Seth.

"Wouldn't it be better if someone came with you?" Astharoshe's voice asked. "He could be suffering from amnesia again, and he did attack you," she half grumbled half snarled.

The girl that looked like Seth laughed. "Don't worry, I'm sure he won't attack me. Besides I don't think that's Abel Night_road."_

_"_What do you mean?"

"Hey! Are you guys going to visit Four- eyes?" a gruff voice asked. Abel could hear the person approaching the door.

"I was, but I wanted-"

The door opened. A man with brownish black hair, had his hand on the door knob. His hair was messy just like a lion's and he wore priest robes. He had a silver ring on each wrist.

The man with lion like hair marched his way up to Abel. He looked mad, but a smile grew on his face. "It's nice to see you're finally tall again! It was so boring without you Four-eyes. When you were little I couldn't make fun of you at all," he gave Abel a wolfish smile and swung his arm toward Abel. "I finally got my good-old buddy back."

Abel stopped the hand from touching him, by ducking down and taking a few steps back. He eyed the man suspiciously. What the hell was his problem? Abel didn't even know him.

"I haven't seen you in ages and you don't even want to say hello? Or is this because you feel sorry for pulling those pranks on me. Huh, Four- eyes?" the gruff man frowned. "Well I forgive you, but that doesn't mean I won't get back at you later."

The girl sighed. "Well it's good to see that you're up, Abel," she shook her head. "That's Father Garcia, but you can just call him Leon," she pointed to the man that tried touching him. Abel glared at him. "And this is Asthe," she pointed to Astharoshe.

"You really don't think he has amnesia?" Astharoshe, or Asthe asked. Abel was unsure of what to call her. "Because he's giving us strange looks as if he doesn't know us."

Abel looked at Astharoshe, what was she talking about? Why where all these people acting like they knew him? What was this about getting his body back, and amnesia? And who was this Four- eyes person Father Garcia kept mentioning?

"Nope," the girl answered. "He doesn't have amnesia. Unless he hit his head on the way here," she smiled at him. It was the same smile his sister had. Abel found himself clenching his fists.

"So why are you acting this way?" Father Garcia asked as he swung his arm around Abel's shoulder. At the touch of the other man, Abel grabbed his hand, spun around and flipped the man over his shoulder. The Father grunted, and looked up at Abel, dazed. He blinked a few times.

"That seemed oddly familiar," Astharoshe commented. "He did the same thing when he shrunk and just woke up," she explained to the girl.

"Oh?" the girl smirked at Abel. "By the way, we aren't with the UN, so you shouldn't be doing that to people, and just incase you didn't know, I'm Seth, not some clone," she frowned.

Abel stared at the girl. According to Cain, they were creating clones just like Seth, and his sister was dead. How could she be Seth? Did his brother lie to him? No, that was impossible. There was no reason for Cain to lie to him. Besides Cain said that he was tying to save Abel from the UN. Maybe Cain just made a mistake and thought these people where the UN. But then again, this girl did say she was Seth? Was it just a coincidence that she looked like his sister and was named the same thing.

"Cain lied to you about everything. The UN are gone. I'm not sure what else he told you but they were most likely all lies," Seth said. She sighed, "when you grow up, make sure to always listen to your sister," she waved a finger at him. She almost sounded like Lilith did, when she tried being motherly. "You always get yourself in trouble, and you wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for- some other idiot who didn't listen to his sister." The way she said it made Abel think she was talking about him.

"What are you talking about?" Abel shook his head "Never mind, just tell me where Cain is," Abel asked, not sure if he really wanted to know. He didn't believe what this Seth said at all.

"I don't know, he got away with his butler." Abel felt disappointment yet joy at this news. Cain was safe, but at the same time he left Abel.

Abel tilted his head just as Father Garcia tried punching him. He grabbed his hand and twisted it a little. "I was having a conversation," Abel spoke calmly. He released the hand and took a couple steps away from Leon. "Aren't priests supposed to be nice?"

"Even though you say he doesn't have amnesia, it sure seems like it," Asthe commented as she looked at Abel. He looked back at her. "Please don't tell me that we're going to have to win his trust all over again. It was hard enough the first time, as it was."

"I can guarantee he doesn't have amnesia. You see-" Seth looked at Abel as if she were trying to find the right words. "he's not the Abel you know. He has the same first name and might look like Abel but he's not Abel Nightroad," she tried explaining.

"Who's this Nightroad person you keep talking about?" Abel finally asked. It was starting to bug him, and he hated being left out in the dark.

"That'd be you, idiot!" Father Garcia yelled at him, and gave him looks as if he were crazy.

"Stop yelling, I can hear you perfectly fine without you doing so," Abel shot back. "And I'm not an idiot, you are."

"Why you!" the Father growled at him. Abel was rather unimpressed by his show of strength. Father Garcia glared at him, and threw another punch. Abel dodged it and using his momentum, he tripped Leon so he was on the ground.

"My surname isn't Nightroad, it's Nightlord. Despite the obvious similarities there is a difference, so you must have me confused with someone else," Abel said simply. Where the people from this time all this irritating? Astharoshe opened her mouth and stared at him with big eyes. Abel sighed, these people where very strange.

* * *

**A/N:** Please comment for me everyone. I always read it even if I don't write back.

Kite00: That was a weird conversation you had with your mom. Usually my mom just tells me to get lotion and if I don't then she laughs at me when I get a sun burn, she also mentions skin cancer. Next time I'm going to use that going to heaven excuse. I wonder what my mom will say to that... anyway thanks for the review. XD

**Notice:** I don't own, Tabitha, Kayson, Darin, or Alaric. Flame800900 does.


	11. Chapter 11

(Past)

"Is this really necessary?" Abel gasped, as two men roughly chained his hands in the back of him. "I've already got a few bullet's in me. I can't do any harm as it is," he tried joking despite the immense pain. The heavy chains clanked together, as he tried turning to his captors. Even if he tried he knew he wouldn't be able to break free. He hadn't eaten since arriving at mars and with the wounds, escape was nearly impossible.

"Don't take it personally," Darin appeared from the shadows, Alaric was right behind him. "We only shot you as punishment, for attacking our men. As for why we captured you it's because we will use you in getting to the Nightlords. But you already know this."

"I'm not even related to them, in fact I only just found out Seth was a Nightlord the other day. She's my- play buddy," Abel purposely made his voice sound whiney. He was forced to twist his head in a strange position to look at Darin.

"Stop complaining, kid!" Alaric barked and kicked Abel in the gut. He skidded across the damp floor of the room. The chains that were chained tightly to him, made it even more painful. Every movement was a strain on his body and his muscles where forced to stretch. At least he could be thankful he wasn't chained to a wall that electrocuted him each time he tried moving.

"But I didn't do anything!" Abel wailed, again he only did so to make himself seem more like a child. He grunted when Alaric kicked him across the face. This time he said nothing.

"That's more like it," Alaric grinned. He towered over Abel as if glad he had just subdued him.

Abel felt like snorting but didn't. Instead he settled for glaring at Alaric.

"Leave the kid alone," Darin spoke up he put a hand on Alaric's shoulder. "Don't waste your energy on him. Save it for when the Nightlords come to save him."

"Fine, fine, but you should be careful. You saw first hand what kind of damage he could do, and no ordinary human could possibly survive all those wounds," Alaric turned, and left the room. When he left someone else entered.

The man who entered, bowed his head to Darin. "Should I escort," the man, Abel recognized as Shane glanced at him, "_him_ here?" he continued. "He's already outside, the building."

"You may, just make certain that Alaric doesn't see him," Darin ordered. He didn't even look at Shane. His beady eyes where locked on Abel.

He looked almost like a little bird, Abel smirked. Or maybe a beetle, 'I wonder what his blood tastes like?' Abel wondered, he shook his head. 'You won't take over again!' he mentally shouted at the crusnik. The voice hissed in his head, but it quieted down when Shane entered the room again. This time someone was with him.

"That was fast," Darin commented. Be nodded his head to the cloaked figure in the door way. Abel couldn't make out his face thanks to the shadows that the cloak casted over his features. "We have our part of the deal, where's yours?" Darin's voice drew Abel's attention back to him.

"Right here," the figure said as he threw down a paper bag. His voice wasn't one that Abel recognized, but somehow he knew the person was using a voice distorter.

Darin picked up the bag and opened it. He made sure everything was there, before yanking his head toward Abel. "I don't know what you could possibly want with the kid, but there he is. It was nice doing business with you again," he held out his hand that didn't carry the bag. The cloaked figure shook it.

"He interests me," the cloaked man said. "Be sure to contact me if you need anything else." Darin handed him a key to the lock that chained Abel. The man didn't take it. "I want you to watch him for now," Darin looked at him shocked, he looked ready to protest. "If you watch him, the next time you need anything I'll double the usual amount with no extra fee's," the cloaked man proposed.

This man must be the one who gave them the tranquilizers, Abel realized. He must be the 'connection' Alaric had mentioned. He glared at the cloaked figure and Shane. He wasn't some bargaining chip to be used, he was no ones property.

"I thought kidnapping was against the law," Abel snorted. "Let alone selling people. What is this? The 1800's all over again?" he asked through clenched teeth and tried squirming out of the chains. He could feel several of the wounds opening.

"Interesting indeed," Darin remarked, he looked back at the man. "Very well we will keep him here, for the time being. However what happens if he manages to escape? And food expenses to keep him alive? Getting food for ourselves is hard enough as it is."

"If he escapes and you didn't release him on purpose," the man started. "then I will pay you to recapture him. If I find that you did release him on purpose then I will- do something that none of you will like. As for the food just let him starve." Darin and Shane gave him confused looks. "Don't worry, he won't die."

"Very well. When will we see you next?" Darin asked.

The cloaked figure shrugged. "I'll just pop by," he chuckled, and walked out the door.

"Even though we've been working with that guy for the past few months I can't figure him out," Shane commented and shook his head. "Doesn't it bother you that we don't even know what he looks like? Let alone his face?" he asked Darin.

"It doesn't matter, as long as he never turns on us. Call Alaric, tell him to watch the kid," Darin ordered. "Work in shifts with him, the two of you are in charge of watching him."

"What about me boss?" Abel asked sarcastically. Darin looked at Abel with his beady eyes, and scowled, he didn't say anything and walked out of the small room. "

XXX

Before Seth even realized where she was going her feet automatically took her to Abel's office. Every time she had a problem with something he was the first person she would go to. Tears weld up in her eyes. How could she be so stupid! Abel - her Abel was missing, and the other Abel thought he went to his time a hundred years into the future. Then the other Abel was kidnapped! The tears spilled over her eyes, and she blinked them away.

Abel wasn't here. He was in danger, and Seth had no one to ask for help. Cain was psycho maniac and Lilith was to busy with her patients. Seth balled her hands into fists. Her mind spiraled over all the people she could go to for help. She kept on thinking about Abel, even when she knew he wasn't here to help.

"It should have been me!" the words came running out of her mouth despite the fact no one was there to listen to them. "If it weren't for me he would be fine, and they would have taken me, not him!" Seth's mind remembered how bloody his clothes had been when he fell. He must have been shot at least four times to produce that much blood in such a short time. He was probably dead by now. She just killed her own brother!

"Lieutenant Seth?" at the sound of her name Seth quickly wiped the tears away and spun around. "Where you just crying?" Tabitha asked. She held a stack of papers in her hands, it was so high that in reached to just under her chin. Kayson was right behind her also holding folders and a few loose papers. Tabitha turned on her side to get a better look at Seth. "Where's Abe-"

Tears spilled over Seth's face. "We on the roof and -and people- sounds could be heard from the stair case- and they had guns and- and- knives. Alaric- his men aimed their guns at me- and- jumped in- and he got shot- so much blood- his shirt was all bloody. He told me to run, and- and-" she stuttered over her words and cried. Shame pricked at her heart but she didn't care. All that mattered was Abel was dead because of her. "He's dead!" Seth shouted.

"Who's dead?" Tabitha and Kayson asked skeptically.

"Abel! He got shot, and they had tranquilizers-"

"What!" the papers Tabitha had been holding dropped to the ground, a few loose papers littered the ground. "Where?" She yanked a radio out of her pocket.

"The civilian side of town, on the south," Seth sniffed.

"Top priority," Tabitha shouted into the radio. "A silver haired child has just been ki- killed. Suspect is Alaric, and his men. Last seen on the south side of the civilians homes. I want him arrested and brought to the capital at once! Any one with him is to also be questioned. Suspect is armed and dangerous!"

"Yes, sir!" several voiced came through the radio and reached Seth.

Tabitha picked up the papers she had dropped and kicked open the door to Abel's office. Kayson followed behind her without a word. She dropped the stack on Abel's desk and Kayson followed suit.

"Go tell Lilith," Tabitha ordered Seth. Her voice was kind and stern at the same time. "Tell her to prep an emergency room."

"But he's dead! It won't help."

"I'm sure he's fine," Tabitha soothed. "He'll make it out of this." Even though she said this, Seth could tell that she was uncertain herself. Her voice was shaking as was her hand that held the radio. "We'll find Alaric and give him a just punishment."

* * *

**A/N:** Please comment for me everyone. I always read it even if I don't write back.

Eltara: Yay, we're all vampires! I bet my fangs are sharper then yours are! lol. Yes, the past part of this story does take place during the civil war.

**Notice:** I don't own, Tabitha, Kayson, Darin, Alaric or Shane. Flame800900 does.


	12. Chapter 12

(Present)

Oh, crud. Damn it, damn it, damn it all. He shouldn't have said that. Abel mentally slapped himself. He should not have said that. This was it, his big mistake that sent him back to the lab, all because of a stupid slip up. It was back to the life of needles and tests, all over again. He was doomed. How could he be so stupid?

Astharoshe stared at him with big eyes, her mouth was slightly gapped open. Father Garcia just looked at him with a confused face. Abel could just imagine what was going on through his mind. 'He's the thing that was create through science, he shouldn't even be alive right now,' or something like that. Then there was Seth. She had an evil glint in her eye and smile, as if she had something planned for him. No doubt she somehow recorded what he just said and was going to sell him back to the UN.

Abel stuffed his hands into his pockets and glared at the people in the room. The last thing he was going to do was show them how scared he was.

A snarl came from Astharoshe. "You're not a Nightlord! That's the worst joke you've ever come up with. How dare you use the imperial family's name!" she advanced on him, and threw a punch at his gut. He dodged it easily by taking a step back. She threw another and again he took a step back. His back hit the wall. A kick was sent to his head, and he ducked.

Although her attacks where strong Abel saw many openings. The way she fought and carelessly tried to hit him, made her vulnerable. Astharoshe's attacks where to straight forward and her footing was unbalanced.

"You're not going to hit him like that, Asthe" Seth commented. It seemed she also saw all of Astharoshe's weaknesses.

"Okay, who else is lost here?" Father Garcia asked. His face turned into one of utter confusion. "Isn't he Four- Eyes?"

"I don't wear glasses," Abel stated sourly. He jumped over Astharoshe's head and landed near Seth. Astharoshe turned and continued her assault on him. They were moving out of the room and into the hall.

"Stop running!" she ordered.

"I'm not running. Just dodging all your attacks, if you really want to hit me so badly try throwing in a faint," Abel suggested and shrugged. The way she attacked him, made him some what irritated.

"So if you're not Four-Eye's, then who are you?" Leon asked.

"I already told you!" Abel growled, he ducked to avoid being struck by the unactivated sword of Gae Bolg.

"Yeah? Well I say that you're not a Nightlord!" Astharoshe said through clenched teeth. "There's no way you could be one." She threw a punch, but it was a faint, the real attack was a kick to his side. She learns fast. Astharoshe grabbed him by his collar and pushed him into a wall. His feet dangled just above the ground. "Prove to me, that you are a Nightlord!" She challenged.

"If you don't believe me then that's your problem," Abel stated, just as she aimed a punch and his face. He caught it with ease. In one fluid motion he twisted her wrist and swung his free arm down, making her release him.

"Let her go," Seth said. She was chuckling a bit. "Asthe, he really is a Nightlord. I should know, after all I am their descendent." Astharoshe looked at her, with confusion, as did Abel. At least that explained why she looked so much like Seth. "Let go of her hand already," Seth ordered. "Unless you like her or something?" Abel threw Astharoshe's wrist down and looked away from her. He stuffed his hand back into his pocket.

If this was a new, nefarious plan, to get Abel to drop his guard, he wasn't falling for it. He glanced at Astharoshe who looked from him to Seth and back again.

"When you said 'he isn't Abel Nightroad,' I didn't think you meant this," Astharoshe glanced at Seth. "Is he the first and only emperor?" Astharoshe asked, pointing at him. Abel saw Seth nodding with a smile on her face. Well, that reaction never crossed his mind. At least it was better then a test tube baby, but he still didn't want to be called the emperor when he really wasn't. "I'm sorry, but I find that hard to believe."

"I'm not an emperor," Abel stated. "Nor do I have any desire to be," he spoke the truth when he said this. His mind going through all the paper work he would have to do if he ever became the emperor of something. Even if he did want to be the emperor it was impossible for him. After all, he was born as something less then a human. He was even viewed as something less then even the smallest insect, since he wasn't born the natural way. "Any way, if I'm the emperor then what is she?" Abel pointed to Seth.

_"I'm the empress." _

"How old are you?" Astharoshe asked, seeming to ignore what he just said.

"I'm thir-"

"He's 976," Seth interrupted him. Everyone gave her weird looks, "Well he's actually only lived for thirty years. He's from the past in the year of 2118." Abel tensed, how did she know that?

"So then, he is the emperor?" Astharoshe asked again, just to clarify things. She crossed her arms across her chest and looked at him, with quizzical eyes. "He looks just like Father Nightroad." Abel just glared at her, and Leon who was wearing a wide smile. People in this time where so weird, or was it just him?

Seth nodded her head. "Not yet, but he will be. He has another hundred years or so, until he finally becomes the emperor." In a different language Seth said, "_In this time the UN no longer exist, Abel. So no one will drug you or take you to a lab_. Just relax, while you're here."

_ "But Cain said-" _

_"Cain lied to you." _

_"He said the UN killed my sister and Lilith," _Abel told Seth everything Cain had told him.

Seth shook her head, "_All lies. Anyway you'll be staying here for about a month and a half, if I remember correctly. The UN are gone ,and there are now enhanced humans with the basilisk in their system," _She updated him on the more importing things, that have changed over the past nine hundred years.

"So is Four-Eyes this emperor person?" Leon asked, Abel looked at him. "Or am I missing something?"

"I'm not an emperor, and I don't where glasses," Abel stated calmly.

"If Seth says you're the emperor then you must be," Astharoshe said. Abel shook his head. All this information at once was overwhelming him. He wasn't even certain if he wanted to know what would happen in the future.

"Haha, I'm making you my new wing man!" Father Garicia announced, he grinned broadly at Abel. "I'll teach you everything you'll need to learn, from picking up girls all the way to-"

"No thank you," Abel broke in, at the same time Astharoshe shouted, "you're not teaching him that!"

"Ah, come on," Father Garica moved so he was between Abel and Astharoshe. "An emperor needs to learn how to pick up the pretty ladies!" he looked at Abel over his shoulder. "Don't worry I got this!"

Abel restrained the urge to hit this insolent human. He had never met a human like this one before. He seemed to have selective hearing or something.

"Of course he'd never be better then me," Father Garcia nodded his head, as if agreeing with himself. "But he should at least-"

"What kind of priest are you!" Astharoshe shouted.

"I'm not a priest, I'm and convict," Father Garcia stated, he winked at Abel and gave Astharoshe a wolfish grin. One of his hands went to his pocket and he took something out. As if to prove his point, he stuck a cigar in his mouth and lit it.

"Leon!" a voice shouted out of no where. Father Garica jumped, as did Astharoshe and Seth. Abel just looked to his right. A holographic image of a nun, formed by his side. "Don't you dare smoke in here!" she shouted at him.

"That's Kate," Seth whispered to him, as the two starting yelling at each other. Soon Astharoshe jumped in and supported Kate.

"Father Nightroad!" several voices sounded behind Abel. He turned. It was a red head nun and three kids.

Great even more people to meet. Abel had a hard time just being around the first three and now there where another four, for a grand total of seven, not including the hologram. Not to mention three of them where kids. 'Kids are more trouble then they're worth," Abel remembered someone saying. It was one of the men that was part of the UN. He pushed the thought away. It was best not to judge at first sight. Though considering that the other people here where strange, the kids would probably be the same.

"He's not Abel Nightroad," Seth quickly explained. The kids looked unhappy by this fact, but the nun kept glancing at Abel as if she didn't quite believe that.

"Hey, Peter!" Father Garcia called to the only male child. "Tell this chick, what I taught you earlier today!" he pointed at Asthe.

"The woman makes the man," Peter recited.

"I can't believe you taught him that!" The red haired nun shouted. "Father Leon, please don't teach him those things!"

"But I don't mind," Peter piped up.

"That's Esther," Seth pointed to the nun. "And those kids, are Peter, Wendy, and Eris," she pointed to each them, as she said the name.

"Is Father Garcia always like this?" Abel asked, as he watched everyone yelling at each other. It was a mad house.

"Nope," Seth shook her head. "I think everyone's just happy because they think that you're Father Nightroad."

"Who's that?"

"Someone that looks like you. He shrunk about a month ago, and he looks exactly like you," Seth said. "The only difference is that he has long hair."

"Oh"

Seth clapped her hands, for attention, but everyone ignored her, and continued yelling. "I have something to say!" Seth shouted over the crowd. "hey!" Seth sucked in air, whistled loudly. Abel flinched, it was very loud, and almost sounded like nails on a chalk bored. Everyone quieted down and looked at her. "I have something to announce. I would like to talk about this in the control room. Asthe, please get Ion," Seth nodded her head to Astharoshe before turning and walking down the hall.

XXX

"He's who?" Ion shouted. He looked from Seth to Abel and back again. "But how- when- he's just- terran- Nightlord- emperor?"

"I have no clue what you just said," Seth stated with patients. It felt like she was explaining this for the tenth time.

"What about Father Nightroad? Where is he?" Esther asked. Finally they were getting somewhere!

"We didn't find him, instead we found him," Seth pointed to Abel, who stood a little bit away from the whole group. His body language gave off the feel that he didn't want to talk to anybody. "He's from the past. I'm not to sure how he got here, but we need to get him back to his time."

"So did Father Nightroad go to the past?" Esther asked.

"Seth shook her head. "I can't say." When she was younger she remembered meeting with a smaller Abel but no one needed to know this. It would only cause him to get mad at her when he returned. If he returned, Seth reminded herself.

"Let me get this straight," Leon started. "First Four-eyes shrinks, and we're supposed to search for all of the ordens bases. Then he finds a clue and disappears. Now we find this guy." Leon jabbed his thumb to where Abel stood leaned against the wall. "Does nobody else see where I'm going with this?" he asked and paused. "We don't have any more clues!" he grinned widely. "That means we can just use the rest of our time on vacation!"

"Idiot," Asthe chided and hit him over the head. "We may not have anymore clues on the orden but we now need to deal with him!" she jabbed her finger in Abel's direction. Seth could see that he was uncomfortable with everyone pointing at him. Then there was also the fact that the kids kept glancing at him and whispering to each other. It was taking all his self control not to storm out of here.

"You make it sound like I'm a burden," Abel muttered under his breath. Only a methuselah or crusnik would have been able to hear him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it sound that way," Asthe added hurriedly.

Seth sighed. In the end Leon was right, they no longer had any purpose for searching for the ordens base. Now that Abel was here they needed to focus on getting him back to his time, and getting the other Abel back here. Only Abel Nightroad understood the clues and messages that Cain sent.

"Is he the first and only Emperor?" Ion asked, having finally found his voice. He pointed at Abel.

"It's rude to point," Abel grumbled, Ion dropped his hand. "And I have no clue what you guys are talking about," He huffed and pushed away from the wall. "I'm not this emperor person, and I'm not this Nightroad guy, so stop staring at me, like I'm from another planet!" Abel glared at the children who were peaking at him from behind the couch. They ducked their heads when he shouted at them. His eyes started bleeding red, and small fangs flashed as he spoke.

"Abel, calm down," Seth ordered sternly. It wouldn't do any good if he lost his temper here. He didn't even know what the crusnik trully was, yet.

"Is he a vampire?" Leon asked.

At the word 'vampire' Asthe snarled. "We're methuselah!"

Abel seemed taken aback by that comment but said nothing. His eyes calculating.

"He's not a methuselah or a human," Seth said calmly. Abel tensed at her words, she watched him at the side of her vision. "His case is difficult to explain, but the virus in him is different from the virus in a methuselah." She tried explaining everything without giving away the fact that he's a crusnik, since it was the other Abel's code name. "Oh, and Ion, he is the emperor."

"I'm not," Abel stated and scowled. His eyes were slowly becoming blue again, and the fangs had disappeared.

"He's acting just like Nightroad did when he had amnesia," Asthe commented. Seth could tell she wanted to say more, and that this wasn't all that was bothering her, but Asthe didn't say more. She just looked at Abel, deep in thought.

"Maybe he's just a look alike?" Ion suggested. "I mean if Father Nightroad looks like him, then there must be other people out there," he paused, deep in thought. "Maybe he's a distant relative of the Nightlords?" he suggested.

Abel's eyes travelled from person to person. Each time someone would so much as breath, his eyes would flicker to them for a brief moment. His posture may have seemed relaxed, but that wasn't what his eyes said. Seth sighed. If he was already acting like this, chaos was sure to break out soon. She shook her head, and she saw Abel glance at her before his eyes traveled to the next person. A young Abel wasn't someone she really wanted to deal with right now.

* * *

**A/N: **Thanks for all the reviews I got from the last couple chapters. Please continue reviewing my story and supporting me.

**Notice:** I don't own, Tabitha, Kayson, Darin, Alaric or Shane. Flame800900 does.


	13. Chapter 13

(past)

It had been at least five days since he arrived at mars. Well at least it had been five days on Earth. On Mars the days were much longer and even when the sun and moon was up, it was very far away so the light and darkness on Mars was almost always the same. There was only one hour during night where the planet would become truly dark and one hour when it would become bright. Of course that could have just been because the colony was on a certain side of the planet, but still...

Abel turned on his side, so that he wasn't facing Alaric, but the wall. He stared at all the cracks in it, and the moister that came off it. Usually small rooms like these were warm, but this one was really cold. Not that Abel could feel the cold, but judging by how Alaric and Shane kept on wrapping a blanket around themselves, it was cold. He was lying on the tile ground that was now coated in his blood. He couldn't even see the original color of it anymore.

The pain was immense. The crusnik wasn't healing him as fast as it should have, and he was loosing blood at a fast rate. It didn't help any that the crusnik kept talking to him. He tugged feebly at the chains knowing nothing would come of it.

"Hey kid!" Alaric's voice echoed through the small room. "Quit moving before I plunge this into your eye," Abel didn't need to look at him, to know he was talking about a knife.

"Threatening kids, now are we?" Abel asked. He knew Alaric would never do it, for fear that Darin would become angry with him. "Go ahead and stab me. I won't even feel a thing." His voice sounded so serious that even he would have believed himself, if he hadn't been the one to say it.

"That's a mighty big bluff, kid," Alaric stated. He walked to Abel and pulled him up by his hair. Alaric forced Abel to look at him, and lightly drew the knife over Abel's cheek. He hissed. "It would be an honor to stab you with this," he grinned. With the same hand that held the knife, he punched Abel in the stomach. If it hadn't been for the fact that he was holding Abel's hair, Abel had no doubt that he would have fallen.

Abel spat blood in his face. He could tell several bullets had lodged it's self, even deeper into his wounds.

"Why you little brat!" Alaric yanked Abel's hair to the ground. His head followed and slammed into it. The pain was immediate. Abel gasped and tried drawing himself into a tight ball, but the chains prevented him from doing so. "Seem's you're not as strong as you thought you were," Alaric sneered.

Abel coughed up blood, his body shook, as he tried breathing. "Stronger then you," he retorted weakly. He knew he should have just stayed quiet, but something told him to continue with the pointless argument. "I bet you couldn't kill anyone, if they were given to you half dead! Hah, you're brain's so small that it's pea sized. Haha, pea brain," Abel half chuckled half grunted, Abel shook with pain. Maybe he could start telling 'yoh, mama jokes,' or where they already out dated?

Abel grunted as a hand pushed his face against the ground. "I don't think I heard what you said," a knife was waved in front of his face. "Mind repeating it for me?"

Using what little of his strength he had left, Abel lifted his head, in an attempt to get away. Alaric's hand slipped off his head. The other hand holding the knife cut into it. The scent of blood struck Abel, and made him feel light headed.

"Why you!" Alaric clutched his right hand. Abel wasn't listening. Alaric kicked Abel. "How dare you do that!"

A growl rose in Abel's throat. Alaric drew himself up to his full hight and was approaching Abel. His right hand held the knife tightly, while his left clasped the large gash on his right forearm.

The crusnik whispered to him, it soon became hissing. Abel could feel a part of mind opening up into a larger space. It felt strange, at that one moment he was aware of everything. What was happening outside of the room, as well as how hard Alaric's heart was pumping. His body started feeling extremely light. He could feel strength somehow flowing into it. The wounds where healing, though slow it was slowly closing.

They stretched their arms slowly, and the chains easily snapped. A few hung loosely to their body. The blood snaked across the floor, to the soles of their feet. It whipped around them forming a mini tornado made up of blood.

Their hair didn't crackle up like it usually did. They summed it up to the fact they were in a small body. Fangs protruded out of their mouth, and their eyes had a wicked red glint to them. Talon elongated from their fingers and blackened. It wasn't the usual form they took but it would have to be enough.

"What the- How did you do that?" the man asked, he waved his knife in front of him. What a joke, like a small tool like that, could stop them!

They gripped the mans injured arm in their hand. He yelped in fear and pain, they drank in the fear. Running their tung over his arm, the man thrashed about and tried pulling away. Hopeless. They bit into his neck. A high pitch scream came from him. He thrashed to get away, but it soon became weaker. He fainted from blood loss.

No. They- he pushed Alaric away. But, Alaric hurt them! They needed the blood! No! They gasped and released Alaric. He couldn't kill him, no matter what he had done. But, he was a traitor! Abel backed into the wall. Fighting for control, why was the crusnik choosing now of all times to act up! He put his head into his hands. Someone entered the room. Something was stabbed into his back. Abel collapsed to the floor. At least he could be happy the crusnik couldn't take over with him now tranquilized… Well, at least not until they neutralized all of it.

XXX

Seth walked into the hospital. Just a few hours ago she and Tabitha had found Abel, and arrested Alaric. Oddly enough instead of Abel being the one unconscious, it was Alaric. When they found Abel they tried talking to him, but his eye's where glazed over and he growled at them. They had been forced to tranquilize him.

"It's amazing he's still alive," Tabitha commented as Seth stepped into the room. She scratched her head deep in thought. Everyone in the room were looking at the unconscious form of Abel.

"Could it be because of the crusnik?" Kayson asked, looking at Lilith. "We all know that the basilisk affects our strength, so what about the crusnik?"

Lilith shook her head. "It is. However what's troubling me even more is what Tabitha and Seth told me when they first found him. Not to mention how he took out all those men a few days ago," Lilith said. "It almost sounds like a bipolar disorder, schizophrenia,"

"Is he going to be okay?" Seth asked. She prodded Abel's arm, as if trying to make a point. She half expected him to wake up.

"He'll be fine, in fact many of his wounds have already healed. I didn't even need to stitch anything up," Lilith answered.

Abel stirred under the covers. Seth held her breath, she could hear everyone gasping behind her.

* * *

**Notice:** I don't own, Tabitha, Kayson, Darin, Alaric or Shane. Flame800900 does.

Please review.


	14. Chapter 14

(present)

"Your face is going to get stuck like that," Seth scolded. Abel looked at her, but his expression didn't change. It was one of boredom and extreme distrust. "Can't you at least try relaxing?" Abel blinked but otherwise did nothing.

The two methuselah in the room looked like they wanted to yell at him for being rude to Seth, but they said nothing. Seth almost felt like taking back what she said about him being the emperor. It sure would help if other people also started scolding him, he was after all still a child… to her at least.

"Why should I try relaxing?" Abel asked. If he didn't say anything right then, Seth had a feeling that she would go crazy.

"Because if you keep on frowning like that you'll never make friends!" Seth exclaimed. Abel cocked an eye brow, he looked confused. Seth slapped her head, was Abel always like this? "Honestly? Do you even know what a friend is? I do, and I was really young when I learned it!"

"I know what a friend is," Abel stated.

"But have you ever had one?" Seth asked, crossing her chest. Abel opened his mouth, "Your siblings and Lilith don't count," she added.

"Does it matter? In the end we'll end up getting mad at each other, and might never speak again. They're just materialistic beings that could disappear any minute."

Good old Abel with his negative attitude. Seth rolled her eyes, of course he would say something like that. She could put Abel in the same room as a rampaging bull, and he'd be able to bore the poor thing to death with his philosophy.

"Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the most hostile, unfriendly, and negative person in the whole universe, give an applause for Abel Nightlord!" Seth turned to those in the room, and held her hands in the air in exasperation. "This is one man you do not want to get angry! He can drive you to death by just talking, not to mention he's also a great fighter," everyone started laughing, as Seth said this in the most serious voice she could muster. "He never smiles or laughs in front of others. In fact the only people who actually get him to show any other emotion besides anger is his siblings and Lilith, and even that's stretching it! So Mr. Nightlord, mind telling us a little about your childhood…?" Seth turned back to Abel.

Seth glared at her older… younger brother. No emotion indeed. At the moment she couldn't get Abel to laugh, not without telling him who she really was, and even then his smile was only real half the time. "Asthe, Ion," Seth turned to the two methuselah. "As a matter of fact, can all of you please help this grump smile?" she asked everyone in the room and pointed back to Abel.

"I'll smile when I feel like it," Abel muttered.

"And when would that be?" Seth turned back to him. Abel just looked at her and said nothing. "Your reaction to my joke earlier was anything but normal! You could have at least smiled!"

"Say cheese!" Leon hollered, smiling at Abel. Seth saw Abel's eyes dart from Seth to Leon and then to those around her. Laughter filled the air once more. Everyone joined in with Leon, telling Abel to smile in their own ways. Even the kids started laughing and telling him to smile.

"You people are strange," Abel stated. He had a face of pure disgust

"We could say the same thing about you, grumpy," Seth teased and smiled. Abel snorted and rolled his eyes, a bored expression played on his face.

"While it was nice meeting all of you, I really should get going," Abel pushed himself off the wall. "I need to get back to my time and I'm only a burden to you. Besides I'm sure Father Garcia would appreciate a vacation." He bowed his head and made his way around the group of people.

"Where are you going?" Seth questioned. She placed herself between Abel and the hall that led to the exit. "You don't even know where we are right now! The worlds changed in the past nine centuries, and I know, you haven't seen a current map."

"I'll just ask someone where I'm at," Abel retorted. He made to step around her, but Seth moved so that she was in his path again. Abel growled, "please step aside." Seth could tell he was at his end of patients with her.

"You'll ask someone where you're at, but then where do you even plan on going? For all you know you could walk into enemy territory!"

"It won't be enemy territory if they don't know what side I'm on, hell I don't even know what side I'm on," Abel snapped, he glared down at Seth. She returned it with one of her own. "Besides I need to find my brother. Even if what you say is true, and he has been keeping things from me, he's still the one that brought me here, and is the only one who can send me back."

"How many times do I need to tell you, before you finally get it?" Seth barked. "Cain-is not-to-be-trusted!" she said everything slowly, as if she were talking to a misbehaved child.

"Lets see," Abel thought on this for a moment. "How about 976 times? After all that is how old I'm supposed to be in this time! Maybe I'm going senile from old age!" he said sarcastically.

Seth glared at Abel. "Stop being a child!" she snarled.

"You're the child! Telling me to smile, only a kid would do that!"

"I would tell you to do other things too, but you would just ignore my advice!"

"I only ignore the useless advice! If you can tell me something important, I might just listen ." Abel tried walking around Seth again, this time she let him pass.

Seth watched as Abel quickly retreated into the hall. His figure disappeared when he took a right, toward the exit. Seth bit her lip, contemplating on what to do.

"Should we go after him?" Asthe asked, she sounded unsure of herself. Not even a second after those words came out of her mouth, did the sound of screeching metal fill the air. Abel was forcing the hatch open. Damn that child!

"Yo!" Leon called, he walked after Abel, and disappeared in the hall. His gruff voice could still be heard. "Rule number one!" Leon shouted playfully. "Never leave your wingman! So where are you going? I could show you around the neighborhood."

Seth moaned, that was not a good idea. First off, Leon was a convict and secondly she really didn't want him to be influencing Abel in anyway. Seth marched after the two 'men,' Asthe right on her heals. How in the world did Lilith deal with Abel? As a matter of fact how did she deal with Seth, Cain and Abel? If Abel was this bad she hated to think of the trouble she caused Lilith when she was younger.

XXX

"Tell me again why you're all following me?" Abel asked, as he weaved in and out of buildings and alleyways. They were currently in the city of London -er- Lundinium, Abel corrected himself.

"We aren't following you," Seth retorted and shot Abel a smile. "You're following us. We were following you for the first hour but then you got lost."

"I could have found my way back," Abel shot back. "Besides why are you here anyway? According to Father Garcia-"

"Stop calling me that!" Leon growled and swung an arm over Abel's shoulder. It was taking all his self restraint to not shove the human away. "My name is Leon!"

"Or you could just call him Dandelion," Astharoshe teased, and nudged Leon in the ribs. She and Seth burst out laughing, while Father Garcia growled a complaint, that Abel didn't quite catch. Abel just stared at them.

"Hey! I didn't get to pick my codename!" Father Garcia - Leon, growled.

"Are you guys hungry?" Seth broke in, she still had a large grin on her face. Seth pointed to a small outdoor restaurant.

"If you're treating," Leon gave Seth a wolfish smile. Seth nodded.

"I could go for something," Astharoshe nodded.

Everyone looked at Abel, waiting for an answer. "Um," he started, "er-"

"Just come," Seth took his hand forcefully and tugged at his arm. "You've stopped eating haven't you?" she hissed to him in a low voice as she started walking toward the restaurant. Abel was about to protest or deny her claim, but she continued. "You haven't been eating properly for what? About a month now? If you don't eat you'll collapse!" Seth stopped at the waitress, "table for four, please!" she asked kindly.

The waitress smiled and motioned for them to follow her. They got an outdoor table. "Can I get your drinks?" she asked kindly. She held a notepad and pen in her hands. Everyone proceeded to telling her what they wanted, Abel just ordered water.

"We are ready to order," Seth said once everyone ordered their drinks. "One of everything on the menu," the waitress looked up from her notepad with a weird look. Even Abel and the others were a bit taken aback by what she just said. "Yes, you heard me right, don't worry we'll pay," Seth smiled kindly.

"O-of course," the waitress bowed and made her way to the kitchen.

"Now, you better eat, because otherwise there will be a lot of left overs," Seth said.

"Do you even have enough money to buy all that?" Abel asked skeptically. He didn't have any of the currency they used in this time, so he knew he wouldn't be able to pay for it, and by the looks of Astharoshe and Father Garcia they also couldn't pay for it all.

"Don't worry," Seth chuckled. She took a seat next to Abel while Astharoshe and Father Gar- Leon, sat on the opposite side of the table.

After a moment of deadly silence, Astharoshe snorted as she looked at a small cluster of girls. Abel followed her gaze, it was a group of five, they were all whispering in hushed voices. A few of the girls glanced at him then looked away, this only caused him to become more edgy then he already was.

Seth chuckled besides Abel, making him look away. "You're so clueless," she laughed. Abel scowled, this only caused Seth to laugh even harder. "I suppose it's better that way though," she managed to say between her laughter.

Father Garcia waved to the girls, and Abel's eyes darted to him then back to the girls before he looked back at the table. A line of waiters soon came by with several plates in their hands. They deposited the entrées onto the table along with several clean plates.

The table was stacked to it's fullest covered the in the colorful dishes. The variety of the food ranged from Asian food all the way to English food, and perhaps even some Hawaiian plates. The delicious smells wafted their way to Abel, so that he could pick out the different spices used.

"Since you have no where else to go, why don't you just stay with us?" Seth asked as she and the others began helping themselves to the food. "You don't know where Cain is," she pointed out. "I was thinking that you could come back with Asthe, Ion and I to the empire."

"What about that mission you were given?"

"We have lost all our leads," Seth shrugged, as she began cutting the beef into pieces.

"And those from the church?" Abel began serving himself once certain that everyone had done so before him.

"Going back to the vatican in Rome."

"The kids?"

"I've talked to the queen of Albion, she will find suitable homes for them here," Seth paused as she chewed her food. "If they want to, they can come with us to the empire, however once we find… Father Nightroad we will have to bring them back here."

"Oh…" Abel took a small bite of food. Immediately the rich flavor washed over his tongue.

"So?" Seth asked, she had stopped eating and was looking at Abel expectantly.

"'So' what?" Abel asked.

"Do you want to come to the empire or not?" Seth yelled.

"I don't have much of a choice do I? In the end you would just keep bothering me until I said yes, or I would get lost, like you pointed out to me earlier," Abel stated. "You are so much like my sister."

"Great! We just need to drop off the members of the church on the way," Seth said happily._ "I am your sister," _Seth said in a different language. She sighed and shook her head, almost as if she already regretted telling him that.

"Sure," Abel said sarcastically even though he knew she was telling the truth. He just didn't want to believe it. Abel brought the cup of water to his lips.

_"By the way I'm also the empress," _Abel spat out his water, and started coughing. _"Don't spray it, say it," _Seth bit out.

Abel looked at Leon as he continued coughing, Leon looked pissed but didn't say anything. He just picked up a napkin and proceeded to wipe his face.

"Sorry Father- Leon," Abel corrected himself when Leon shot him a glare.

Leon huffed in response, and continued eating the delicious food that didn't get spit on.

_"Please don't tell me I'm the emperor," _Abel prayed. _"If you do, I think I'm going to bring up everything I just ate." _

_"You hardly ate anything to throw-up," _Seth pointed out. She smiled, "_you are the emperor." _

_"That sounds totally wrong," _Abel groaned. He accidentally reverted back to English.

Before Abel could say anything Astharoshe jumped into the conversation, now using her broken form of english, or the empires language as she called it. _"What sounds wrong?" _

_"Nothing," _Seth shot Abel a glare. He mentally slapped himself for that slip up. Reverting back to the first language, she continued, _"yes that means we married each other." _

Okay, now Abel felt sick. He married his own sister! Abel felt his mouth drop open, but his mind was on what Seth just said. That sounded really, really wrong! After being told that, he sure as hell would do everything in his power to make sure that never happened when he returned to his time. Abel quickly took a bite of some of the bread, to cover up the fact his mouth just opened.

Seth started laughing hysterically, _"you didn't actually believe me did you?"_ she gasped. _"You did, didn't you! Hahaha,"_ she clutched her stomach and looked as if she were about to fall out of her seat. "_We never married, however I am the empress, and you are the emperor. Don't tell anyone I'm the empress, the only one's who know is Astharoshe, Ion and Esther. I'm actually using a false pretense under the name of Augusta Vradica."_

Abel sighed in relief, thankful that she was only joking. _"That was not nice," _he stated, and took a sip of his water before turning back to his meal. "It must be hard for you to have to listen to her," Abel spoke in Latin as he jabbed his thumb at Seth.

Seth made an innocent face as if she didn't know what he was talking about.

"I have no problems with her," Astharoshe stated. She looked disappointed about the fact she had just missed out on their earlier conversation.

The rest of the meal passed by quickly, with small chats across the table. Abel decided not to take part in any of the conversations unless asked something directly. When they finished eating the waitress gave Seth the check and a few boxes to put the left overs in. Seth quickly handed her the money and took the boxes from her.

Once back at the ship Seth handed Abel a clear bottle with red liquid in it. "Drink this," she ordered.

"Is this wine?" Abel asked, it looked oddly thick just like the wine Cain gave him had been.

"Just drink it," she rolled her eyes. Abel looked back at her then the bottle. He popped open the cap with his thumb and took a small sip. It tasted different then the one Cain had given him but it tasted just as good, if not more. Abel ran his tongue over his teeth, his canines felt longer then before. He ignored it took another sip of the bottle. Although it was delicious he still felt bad for drinking it, it must have cost a fortune.

"Here," Abel capped the bottle.

Seth didn't take it. "Drink it all," she said, almost sternly. What was this? His medicine?

"No thanks," Abel tried handing the bottle back to Seth but she didn't take it. "Why do you want me to drink this? It's only wine, do want me to get drunk or something?"

* * *

**Okay people, just ignore what I said below, it's really not important unless you want to here about me rant and rage about work.**

**A/N: **Sorry for the long wait, I was really busy and haven't had any time to myself for the past week. Homework sucks and my mom has decided to overload me with SAT prep, on top of that I got volleyball stuff going on, not to mention my senior project for next year. What else... Oh yeah, my classmates always talk during class, so I can't study! GAH! I think I'm going crazy.

**Notice:** I don't own, Tabitha, Kayson, Darin, Alaric or Shane. Flame800900 does.

Please review.


	15. Chapter 15

(Past)

"Abel Nightlo- road you get back here this minute!" Lilith yelled at the top of her lungs.

Gah! This child -er- man… old man, was driving her insane. How did he expect her to help him get his body back if he didn't let her take any tests! And what was up with his last name? Really? He only changed the lord to road, and that was not much of a difference! It would take an idiot not to recognize the similarities… Um, not idiot… For crying out loud he was even making her think in a negative fashion! What was his reason for changing his last name anyway? Was it some guy thing?

"What's wrong!" the door slammed open and in walked Kayson.

Lilith moaned and put a hand to her temples, massaging it. "He's run off again," Lilith stated. "I honestly don't know what to do with him! One minute he's fine and when I ask him a question about his time or something along those lines, he tries changing the topic. Then when I try changing it back, he starts acting like a child!" Lilith felt like she were about to pull out her own hair. She'd never been so frustrated in her life before.

"What if you tried-"

"And did I mention he has the mind of ancient geezer! We played chess the other day, and he actually beat me! He never beats me! Abel was even leading me through a few steps when I was working on a patient! He made it seem like he were just asking questions, but the more he asked them the more I realized that he was leading to something bigger!"

Now if he started saying perverted things then he really would be an ancient geezer! Though he was talking her to her differently then he normally would have in her time…

"Well he is-"

"Do you know how frustrating it is to have a genius in the same room as you, and then all of a sudden he starts acting like an idiot!" Lilith took a deep breath as she thought on what else to say. She looked back at Kayson who was patiently looking at her with kind eyes, she sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just-" Lilith shook her head. If she started complaining about Abel again she felt like she migh go on for another hour.

"Like I was saying," Kayson paused and raised an eye-brow as if expecting Lilith to interrupt him. "Maybe if you let Abel lead the conversations he would be more comfortable. He might not want to tell you about the future because it could be dangerous knowledge. If he told us then we might actually be able to change the future with it."

Lilith sighed, she knew all that, but Abel didn't really talk to her unless she was the one leading the conversation. It was hard talking to the older version of someone you knew without asking him how he's changed in the future since everything she about him from her time was the same, and she practically knew everything there was to know about him from the age 30 and down.

"Could you run this by the nurses working with the patient in D-12," Lilith handed him a a notepad, with a few notes on them. It was the one Abel had helped her with. "I need to get Abel," she said in a much calmer voice. She gave Kayson a small smile before walking past him.

Lilith walked down the cream colored walls for the third time that day. Just like the first two, she headed up the stairs and onto the roof of the building.

"Boo!" Abel jumped in front of her, and she jumped. He had a big smile plastered on his face, though it somehow seemed fake just like all the other smiles he had given her. His eyes didn't show any of the joy that was on his face, it was all an act to him.

"Come on," Lilith took his hand into her own, and made her way back to the steps. "I need a few more blood samples."

"What! You already have a gallon full of my blood, why do you need more?" Abel whined as he followed Lilith down the hall.

"I don't have a gallon-"

"Of milk"

"Of blood, I only have a vile," Lilith said kindly, despite the fact she was at her whits end.

"Well maybe if you added milk to the blood you might just get a gallon," Abel said happily as he used a childish voice. At least it didn't sound oddly placed since he looked like one. Lilith couldn't see her Abel actually talking like this one.

"You know what, I think I'll do just that," Lilith stated. "But I still need a few more samples." She opened the door to her office. Abel took a seat and rolled up his sleeve as Lilith grabbed a syringe, with a few empty blood bags.

Abel glared at the needle in Lilith's hand. "Do you have a jar?" he asked in a serious tone. Lilith gave him a questioning look, and nodded. "Can I borrow it?"

"Why do you need a jar?" Lilith asked, she set the needle on the bed and walked across the room to fetch a jar. She tossed one to Abel. Her eye's widened as his nails on one hand grew longer and sliced into the palm of his hand. It began to bleed at a steady pace, the blood splashed into the jar. "What are you doing!" Lilith yelled at him. She walked around her desk and reached for his hand. Abel moved so that she couldn't touch it. The jar was almost full.

"There," Abel stated. His bloody claws retracted into his fingers so that they were short again. "Is this enough blood?" he asked as he screwed on the cover.

"You can't afford to loose that much blood!" Lilith scolded. She snatched up his hand. Abel clenched it into a fist. "Open it."

"I don't want to." A few drops of blood fell to the floor.

Lilith tried to pry it open and Abel flinched. "See, it wouldn't hurt so much if you didn't cut it. You do know that your wounds are healing slower then they did when you first got here right? Now let me see."

"I know that, and even if we did use a needle it would still hurt!"

"It wouldn't hurt that much and it wouldn't be bleeding like this!"

Abel reluctantly opened his hand slowly. She was right, he was healing a lot slower then he did back on earth. It should have healed by now. Abel cursed himself, as Lilith gasped. He hated making her worry. Lilith fished out a rapped bandage from her pocket and rapped it around his hand.

"Next time just let me use the needle," she begged. Lilith took the jar from Abel, it was filled with more blood then she needed at the moment. "Well at least now, I won't have to worry about how much milk I'm going to mix with it," she joked lightly.

"You're not actually going to waste milk on that are you? I was just kidding," Abel stated dully.

"Just for that I will," Lilith said, she looked a the large jar in her hand. It must have been at least a gallon. "I'm never giving you a jar again."

"Huh? But what if I want to... catch butterflies?" Abel asked in a childish voice. Lilith raised an eye brow. "Okay, okay, I won't ever do it again." Abel flinched when he held up his hand and opened it in submission.

"And?"

"Um, I'll let you take samples of my blood?"

"You'll also stop acting like a child."

"Oh yeah, that too… Wait what? I'm in the body of a kid you know? How do expect me to act? If I didn't act like a child people would begin to question me."

"You could at least stop acting like a four year old when with me."

"Maybe I'll act like an eleven year old tomorrow."

"You know, I agree with her," Kayson entered the room, Tabitha was right behind him.

"It would be nice if you stopped acting like a brat," Tabitha said and smirked.

"You're not helping," Abel bit out. "Why are you here anyway?"

"I came to deliver my report on Alaric," Tabitha said. "He's currently under our custody. We haven't sentenced him to any punishment yet."

"Cut his rations and keep him under 24/7 surveillance," Abel said. They had out lawed the death penalty a little while ago, and keeping someone confined wouldn't help the colony at all. In the end if one person stopped working it would affect the colony.

"What! That punishment is to light-" Tabitha's protest died in her throat at the look Abel gave her.

"Question him a little more," Abel said. "Ask him about how they get all their supplies, and send one or two men to watch Darin but make sure he doesn't notice."

"Darin?"

Abel nodded, "When I was captured Darin was also there," Tabitha growled at this. "He and Alaric are working together however I think the reason they caught me was for two different reasons. Alaric believes that I was used to be used as bargaining chip, however I think Darin had me captured because someone else ordered him to."

"Who would ask them to capture you? No offense but you are a kid," Tabitha said.

"I don't know and I can't be certain about this. Anyway just make sure to keep an eye on the two of them," Abel instructed. "If I'm right then Darin should be meeting with someone soon, to discus my escape."

"Sir if I may. You know that Alaric and Darin are part of rebel forces, the leaders in fact, and yet you don't do anything to stop them, why?" Tabitha asked.

"It would cause trouble for earth and for other representatives," Abel answered. The representative part was true enough, but the Earth part wasn't. He only used it because that's what he used to believe when he was younger.

* * *

**Notice:** I don't own, Tabitha, Kayson, Darin, Alaric or Shane. Flame800900 does.

Please review.


	16. Chapter 16

(Present)

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Astharoshe stepped out of the shadows and approached Abel.

"Shouldn't you?" Abel asked. He set down the book he had been reading.

"My kind tend to sleep during what you would call day," Astharoshe said. Abel scowled, and she continued. "Ion and I have been sleeping during night like you terrans do because of our mission. Now that we're going back home we'll start sleeping in our time again."

"I see," Abel said. "Unfortunately I can't find sleep. I'm still in mars time where the days are longer. I'll probably stay up for another week until I'm finally able to sleep." Usually the other colonists would sleep every other day but as Abel was one of the leaders he slept less.

"How long do you plan on sleeping?"

"A day," Abel answered. It was usually less then that thanks to Tabitha, but maybe he could sneak a extra hours out on earth. "Why do methuselah sleep when the sun's up?"

"The UV rays from the sun can kill us," Astharoshe answered in a matter of fact voice. She seemed confused he would ask such a question.

"The basilisk is weak against the sun?" Abel mused.

"If you don't mind me asking, are you an enhanced human?" Astharoshe asked. "Do you have the basilisk in your system or some other type of virus?"

"There were two nano-machines found on mars. My kind weren't able to get injected with the basilisk, it had no affect on us. Thanks to certain reasons three others including myself were injected with the second nano machines, the crusnik," Abel explained.

"Crusnik?" Astharoshe repeated. "That sounds oddly familiar."

Abel shrugged, "maybe you heard of it in science class, or history."

"That's probably it," Astharoshe nodded though she still didn't look to certain.

Abel studied Astharoshe for a few more seconds before he opened his book again. He flipped through the old pages before stopping at the one he ended at. His eyes began scanning the paper but his mind wasn't on this. It was on what Astharoshe had said. If the basilisk were weak against the sun, then what about the crusnik. Abel glanced at Astharoshe who was still standing in front of him. It was quite irritating. It made him feel smaller.

"I thought you would still be up," Seth said as she entered the room, yawning. "Morning Asthe," she said to the methuselah. Astharoshe smiled and bowed.

"Are you here to badger me about going to sleep too?" Abel asked.

"I considered it, but you wouldn't listen to me, and I'm tired of arguing with you," Seth rolled her eyes.

"We weren't arguing, you just decided to call it one. It was nothing more then a few questions and answers."

"It seemed more like an argument to me," Seth disagreed.

"Good to know, maybe next time you can educate me on what a regular conversation is supposed to sound like," Abel replied. He looked back at his book, and continued reading it.

"When you have a conversation you're supposed to look at the person, not read a book," Seth bit out. Abel flipped a page of his book, as if ignoring her.

"The character in this book is an idiot," Abel mumbled as he flipped to the next page. "If he were smart he would have just dealt with the antagonist as soon as he could. Instead he waited. That was a big mistake, so much could have happened in that small amount of time, and the people could have died," Abel glanced at Seth who looked like she were about to snap at him. "What's the world powers, in this time?"

"The two main ones are the Vatican and the Empire," Astharoshe answered him. "But the empire is much stronger since we have more technology, and resources. Our population is also filled with methuselah who are physically stronger then terrans."

"Is that so," Abel replied absent mindedly. So America was destroyed, and this only further backed up the fact the UN were also gone.

"See he never listens to me," Seth said. Abel glanced up to see her talking to Astharoshe, who was smiling back sheepishly. It seemed like she had something to add but didn't want to say it.

"I would prefer if you just spoke your mind, Astharoshe," Abel said, as he read his book. "You have no need to treat me like this emperor person when I'm not him, and even if I will be the emperor someday, I'm not him right now. You're not one of my men and I just met you, so there is no reason to treat me with respect if I haven't earned it."

"Thank you… I think," Astharoshe stumbled over her words, she seemed embarrassed.

_"When we get to the empire will you tell me what exactly the crusnik does?" _Abel asked in a different language.

_"Why do you want to know? It just makes your senses and strength more enhanced then it already is,"_ Seth paused and Abel looked up. _"Fine I guess I'll tell you, but when I do you can't repeat any of it to anyone else." _

Abel cocked an eyebrow in question but Seth had already turned and left, Astharoshe was right besides her.

XXX

"Rise and shine, your highness!" Leon roared with laughter as he flipped on the lights. He looked at where Abel was, and frowned. The kid was already up, that was no fun! "Ready to meet Caterina?" he asked.

Abel frowned, he never heard of a Caterina person before now. Abel heard a few people walking down the hall toward the main room. A second later everyone filled into the room.

"Whats got you frowning so early in the morning?" Seth asked. She walked over to the couch Abel was on and took a seat without asking. Abel edged away slowly, she was to close for his liking. Seth cocked an eye brow and gave him a toothy grin. "Does somebody need a hug?"

"No thank you," Abel stood, only to have Seth tackle him to the ground. "Get off me!" Abel growled, as he tried prying Seth's arms away. Good old Abel and his cup-half-empty self. He really wasn't winning any friendship points by being so stand offish.

"Somebody slept on the wrong side of the bed," Astharoshe commented.

"You should be happy a pretty little lady hugged you," Leon added in his two sense.

"I don't even know you! Stop hugging me!" Abel growled through gritted teeth.

_"Sure you do, I'm your sister!" _Seth said in a different language. _"You need to lighten up!" _

Abel finally managed to untangle himself from Seth's grasp. He stood as he held her hands at arms length away from himself.

_"You, dear sister, are very old. I missed out on more then nine centuries of your life, therefore I really don't know anything about you," _Abel stated.

"Whatever," Seth rolled her eyes, and yanked her hands away from Abel. She crossed them over her chest, and shot him a smile before turning around. Seth plucked an envelope from her pocket and passed it to Sister Esther. "Give that to Lady Caterina when we get to the vatican. We'll be going straight to the empire," Seth glanced at Ion who looked disappointed. "If Caterina gives you an okay, you can come to the empire with us."

"Is that really okay, Seth?" Sister Esther asked in awe. It sounded like she couldn't believe Seth just asked her that.

"Of course I am! If I wasn't I wouldn't have asked you know would I? Besides," Seth shrugged. "I'm going to need someone who is willing to watch after the kids. I could ask the servants but… I think the kids would appreciate it if someone they knew were coming too."

The three kids looked at Esther with big eyes, all silently begging her. Even Ion looked hopeful.

Abel sighed and blocked everyone out. He opened his book and began reading it. He wasn't even aware of how much time had passed, until Seth announced that they were here. Where ever here was.

Seth led the way to the other ships and entered one that had two black feathers printed on the side and nose of the ship. Leon and Esther had gone the other way, telling them they were going to talk to that Caterina person. After waiting for what seemed like an hour the sun began to peak over the horizon and Esther ran into the ship panting. Saying that Caterina gave her the okay to go to the empire. After that Seth entered in the coordinates to the empire and the ship took off. It would take four days for them to get there.

Four days later:

"It's nice to be back home!" Ion exclaimed as he ran out the ship and stretched his arms. Abel, Seth, Asthe and Esther with the kids circling around her were right behind him, with Abel bringing up the rear.

Abel blinked as his eyes adjusted to the sun. While on the ship the methuselah had explained that there was a shield over the entire city, which blocked out all the dangerous UV rays.

Now looking at the sky, Abel could make out a light tint of pink, or purple in it. It must have been the shield. Abel was greeted by the bustling crowds of people when he walked around the ship. They had landed right in the port in the middle of town. Seth had explained that the ship needed to go through maintenance before they took it to the capital so they would be walking the rest of the way there.

Shops lined the many different buildings. Methuselah and terran alike where all in this one area.

"We are entering the methuselah side of the city now," Seth informed him, as if she were a tour guide. "Under the empresses rule both terran and methuselah and co-exist. Unlike the outside world they are both equal. The terrans usually live on that side of the city," Seth pointed back the way they had just come.

She continued leading everyone through the town. On their way to the capital a few venders stepped away from their shops to pass out fliers or tried to convince them to buy something.

'This is surprisingly nice," Abel thought, as he let his eyes drift over the buildings and different people. 'No reporters and no cameras. Not to mention nobody is staring at me with disgust.'

A large building was coming into view. It was cream colored with an emerald green, tiled roof. Behind that building was an ever bigger then the first. Like the other it was cream colored and the roof was green, however this one had a rounded shape to it, that had a point at the very top. This building was surrounded by other smaller building buildings.

"So what do you think?" Seth asked.

"It's amazing," Abel shrugged.

Seth smirked, "if you think that's nice you haven't seen nothing yet." She turned and began to weave in and out of the booths. At the very end was the building with the building with the green tiled roof. As they neared it Abel could make out two people standing guard. The large green bolted doors where open allowing Abel to see the inside. It was a large hall that led to different doors. At the very end it opened up to what seemed to be a court yard.

Abel looked down when he noticed the once cobbled streets where now paved over with a smooth tan cement. They passed the guards without even having to stop. The guards simply nodded and wrote something down in a note book. They wore heavily armored clothing and a metal helmet that covered their whole face. It must have been very hot, wearing all that clothes, Abel didn't envy them at all.

Seth led them past the guard and into the long hall like building. A large curved pool was at the side of the building. It leaked off, as if forming a river to a water fountain, that was encircled by tropical plants.

Entering the courtyard Abel could make out the building beyond it much more clearly. The second story of all the buildings had a wrap around veranda and balconies. What must have been the main floors where covered with reflective windows. Only the people on the inside would be able to see through it.

Before Abel could take in all the sights Seth led them into a large building. It was on the edge of a cliff, and over looked the ocean beyond it. It was the perfect place to watch the sunrise. The inside of the building was just as gorgeous as the outside. The floor was completely marble, and over head was a large crystal chandelier.

"Show them to a room in the right wing," Seth order, one of the terran servants. "Esther and the children will be staying in the same room, so be sure to accommodate for them." The servant bowed to Seth before nodding to Esther and the kids to follow. She turned to another maid, "prepare another room, for him," Seth motioned to Abel. "I'll show him to it later today."

"At once," the maid said. She called to several other servants who dropped what they were doing, and followed her. The maid bowed once more before she walked in the same direction as the first servant had.

"Ion, Asthe," Seth said turning back to them. "I imagine you two want to go home, you are excused. Don't worry about the report, it's not needed."

"Of course your majesty," the two methuselah said at once as they bowed. They said their good-byes before leaving.

Seth sighed and looked at Abel, she had a slight frown on her face. "Follow me, it's best if I showed you what a crusnik is rather then telling you."

* * *

**A/N: **Yay! Another chapter, I'm really sorry I haven't been writing as often as I used to, but on the bright side the chapters are a bit longer right? Instead of three pages per chapter its five... Not exactly my goal, but it's the best I can do at the moment. Truthfully I would rather write 3 pages per chapter and update every day... I really have no life at the moment. Can't wait for summer!

Is it just me or do I tend to get more reviews when I say something in the authors note that makes me feel like an idiot? Or whenever I recognize the readers who are commenting on my story?

**Notice:** I don't own, Tabitha, Kayson, Darin, Alaric or Shane. Flame800900 does.


	17. Chapter 17

(Past)

Ever since the kidnapping incident, Tabitha had insisted on Abel having a guard. Of course being Abel, he just had to say no. This of course led to other things which led to other things which finally led to him being locked up in the room the Williams and provided him with. They were treating him like a child, and by all rights he was irritated. For once even he had agreed with the crusnik who had hissed at him about being locked up in a room.

Thanks to the constant hissing of the crusnik and of course himself, Abel had escaped the room, and went "exploring." He even gave himself a mental pat on the back for out smarting Seth's lock on the door. But now- now he regretted all of it. He should have stayed in the room, even the guard would have been better then this. Right now Abel was practically being drowned to death in a tunnel he hadn't even known existed.

Abel gasped for air before he dove down the long tunnel to the end, trying to find an opening. His lungs begged for air but if he went up now, it wouldn't help. The tunnel was already filled with water.

Earlier:

Abel hissed in boredom as he took apart his gun. Lilith and Tabitha had insisted he keep one with him at all times, just in case. Yes! Abel smirked once he finally took out the spring from the gun. He crouched by the lock on the door.

It was a coded lock that Seth had installed. Abel had already typed in a few random numbers in hopes of getting it to unlock. Unfortunately for him, after entering in two codes the lock shut down, making it so he couldn't guess anymore. He had tried putting in a third code but the lock had shocked him. His hand still felt the slight tingling.

'I thought I was here for my own protection!' Abel hissed to himself. 'What they said and what they did totally contradict each other.' Abel timidly tapped the small box to see if it would shock him again. It didn't.

Sighing, he unscrewed the cover of the lock and removed it, placing it on the floor. Abel was greeted by different colored lights and wiring. The hard-drive of the lock could be seen behind the wires. Abel let one of his nails elongate, oddly enough it wasn't as hard or sharp as it normally would have been, but he shrugged the thought off. Abel cut the green wire, then the blue, yellow and finally red. There where a few different colored wires but he ignored them, they were traps. Now that he could finally see the green board behind the wires Abel gently moved the others to the side. Using the spring, Abel tapped on board in several different areas. Each time he pressed something a light would turn off. Hah! Abel could have laughed once all the lights turned off, but he stifled it. Right now he needed to concentrate.

Abel stretched out the spring and bent the end of it. He attached this end to the side of the board and made it touch one of the metal networks on it. Abel then made sure that the other side of the spring hung out of the small box before placing the cover back on. Using what was left of the spring he made it press up against one of the buttons. As soon as he left the room and closed the door, the lock would automatically turn back on and erase all traces of being hacked.

The door slid open and Abel picked up his gun. Without the spring it wouldn't work, but he took it out of habit more then anything else.

'Next time Seth should think about using a different type of lock,' Abel thought. 'Maybe something that needs a key instead of the coded types... That would make it almost too easy.'

He quickly wrote a note and slipped it under the door to his room. Tabitha and the others would still be busy so he had sometime to do what ever he wanted, before returning. But just in case he wrote the note so they wouldn't worry. Hopefully, they wouldn't look for him at all so he could get away for breaking the lock, and would be able to escape again without having to hack into another one.

Slipping out of the family suite Abel already knew what he was going to do for the next couple hours. Check on his dear old friend Darin. He wanted to find out who that cloaked man was. He doubted he would get much info out of Darin but it was better then nothing.

Once at the rebels base, Abel peaked through one of the windows. The room was completely devoid of any life. He looked around before sliding open the window and slipping through. He would also need to be careful of the spies he had Tabitha send out. Quietly, Abel walked around the first floor before traveling up the stairs to the next. He found nothing.

The musty scent mixed with blood hit Abel at once as he opened one of the side doors. It was the same room Abel had been kept in when he was captured. He stepped in slowly, holding his breath, God did it smell in here. Abel's eyes narrowed on the crippled form on the ground. It was shaking visibly and mumbling something Abel couldn't understand.

Taking one last glance out the room, Abel approached the figure. There was no sign of injury on the person at all. Abel found this strange, but continued walking forward. He came here for answers not to run away.

"Are you okay?" Abel asked. He kneeled down on one knee and put his hand on it's shoulder. The reaction was immediate.

The cloaked person stood up, whipping around and wrenching Abel's hand in a tight grip. He didn't even have time to respond before a gun was pressed against his head. Abel felt his blood freeze at the touch of the cold barrel.

"What's this all about?" Abel hissed in fury. He tried pulling away from the person, but the grip was to tight.

"Our sources told us you would be back to ask questions," the man laughed, and pulled away the hood. It was Darin. "You caused us more trouble then I care to admit. Then again I should be thanking you. Thanks to you, we're getting payed double for recapturing you."

"Whose paying you?" Abel spat.

"It doesn't matter."

"Do you even know why that person wants me?"

"I don't ask my clients questions," Darin stated. The gun moved from Abel's head to his heart. -Bang- sheer blinding agony coursed through Abel's body. His legs gave out, and the support of Darin's hold disappeared. The ground swam up toward him. _Damn_.

XXX

"I thought age was supposed to bring maturity and knowledge," Seth huffed as she took out the lock Abel had hacked into. "In Abel's case that is obviously not true. All he's been doing is causing us more trouble. Do you know how much time I spent on this lock?" Seth whined to no one in particular.

"If you think about it our Abel would have done the same if we locked him in a room," Lilith sighed. She was sitting on the bed in Abel's room. The Williams where seated on the couch in the living area.

Seth turned to Lilith scowling. "He still should have matured over the years!"

"He is smiling more often," Lilith said. "At least that's a plus.' At this Seth snorted and she could here Tabitha scoff. Seth poked her head out the door to see Tabitha looking as if she were about to laugh. Kayson was also smiling.

"Of that topic," Tabitha said smiling. "We need to figure out where Abel went. He's been gone for a day now, and the note he left didn't tell us where he was going."

"The note said not to worry about him," Seth stated crossing her arms. "I say we just leave him alone, if he's in trouble he should have thought of that before he ran off."

"You're worried about him aren't you?" Lilith whispered so that the Williams wouldn't hear her.

"No, I'm not," Seth said picking up the disassembled pieces of the lock.

"Really, because it sure seems like it."

"He broke my lock, I'm mad!"

"If you say so," Lilith sighed and shook her head.

Once sure she had all the pieces of the lock, Seth left the suite and walked to her room. No matter what the day or age, Abel was still Abel and although she loved her brother he could be a complete dolt at times. Seth felt a tear threatening to come out, she wiped her face with her sleeve. If he got hurt again she didn't know what she would do. The wounds he had received were horrible. She wasn't even sure if he had even healed fully. Not to mention he ran off knowing full well that the rebels were still after him.

Seth kicked open the door with her foot, and deposited the lock on her bed. She flopped down right next to it, and turned her head so she was looking at the lock. Seth wasn't even sure how long she lay there staring at the lock before her radio went off. Slowly she took the radio out of her pocket and put the ear piece to her ear.

"Yes?"

"One of my men said they saw Abel by one of the building they followed Darin to," it was Tabitha. "

For a second Seth only heard static and then a click. Another voice came over her radio, "we just wanted to tell you that Abel is fine," Lilith said. "Tabitha is about to fetch him right now."

"That's goo- tell him that he owes me a new lock when you find him," Seth said, remembering that she was supposed to be mad at him. She heard Lilith and Tabitha stifling a laugh.

"Don't worry I'll scold him for you. It's much easier yelling at him when he's a kid," Tabitha joked. "Anyway I'm off."

There was light shuffling before Tabitha turned off the radio.

Lilith sighed over the radio. "You don't need to make a new lock," she in formed Seth. "He would just break it again anyway."

"Oh." Seth turned off her radio and threw it on the other side of her bed. Abel had better come back soon, and she didn't mean this short Abel she meant her brother, Lieutenant Colonel Abel Nightlord.

XXX

Abel blinked his eyes open. His head felt like it just got run over by a bulldozer and then slammed by a hammer a couple times. Abel stood up slowly with a hand over his heart. His shirt was soaked in blood. God, he felt like shi- priests where not supposed to say that! Abel shook his head, causing himself to double over. The world blurred before it came back to focus. Abel looked around.

Dang! Abel's eyes widened when he realized where he was. There was no way he would ever forget this place, no matter how old he got. But how did Darin find out about this place? The place it all started. The place he found the nano-machines.

Abel looked in the direction of the exit. If he walked that way he would end up outside with no oxygen and suffocate to death. Abel cursed as he looked the other way. Four large slots were cut out from the metal wall, they were just big enough for a cylinder. Below those slots was some type of writing he didn't recognize, but he knew it had something to do with the crusnik.

If he had never found this place, Cain would have never gone insane and Lilith- Lilith- Abel shook his head. All those hundreds and thousands of people wouldn't have died. If it wasn't already 2118 Abel would have destroyed this cavern and the alien ship. It would do no good now though. The nano machines where already found, and the people needed this ship to get back to earth. Of course if Abel wanted them to stay on this accursed planet he could have destroyed it anyway, but the people had a right to live even if by doing so a war would start. Abel shook his head again, messing with time wasn't something anyone should do!

Something off caught Abel's eye. He walked to it and picked up a small slip of paper. It had been put under a rock from mars that was used as a weight. If it was another riddle for a game Abel felt he would go insane.

_02,_

_Lets play a game. As you know this is the remnants of an alien space ship. Oddly enough there is actually oxygen in here, meaning there should also be another oxygen tank. If you wish to return to the colony find it and come back yourself. Oh, and just a heads up, you failed the first part of the test the minute you picked up this paper. Have fun swimming!_

_… I don't feel like telling you my name. If you really want to know, just don't die. _

Abel looked up from the note, puzzled. Swim? There wasn't any water here, and what did picking up a paper have to do with failing the first part of the game? Abel crumbled the paper and stuffed it in his pocket. He took a step forward. The ground began to shake, rumbling could be heard all around him.

Wha- Water pounded to the ground, from above Abel. The term 'raining cats and dogs' couldn't even apply to this. It was more like all of the pacific ocean was raining down on him. The water was already up to his waist. Abel looked back at the exit. Instead of seeing red land all he saw was a large boulder blocking it.

Abel gasped when the water entered his mouth, it hadn't even been a minute and the cavern was filled to just above his head, he needed to paddle to just keep his head above water. Abel spun around, panic filling him.

* * *

**A/N: **If this chapter doesn't make sense in the middle and toward the end I'm really sorry I was trying to do two things at once and Half of it was done really early in the morning. So it might sound like sleep talk.

Narshia: No the servants don't know Seth is the empress, they just think she's a really close friend of the empress, second only to Mirka.

**Notice:** I don't own, Tabitha, Kayson, Darin, Alaric or Shane. Flame800900 does.


	18. Chapter 18

(Present)

"You're not telling me the whole truth are you?" Abel yawned from somewhere above Seth's head. She looked up, scanning the edge of the roof for any signs of her silver haired brother. "You keep avoiding my question. What are the differences between the crusnik and the basilisk? I already know the crusnik isn't affected by the sun, but there's something else isn't there?"

"Abel, get down here. I won't talk to you unless it's eye to eye," Seth said, she crossed arms.

"Why? You could just jump up here." Seth said nothing. A few seconds later she heard the rustling of clothes and Abel's head popped over the edge. Abel had a bored expression on his face as always. He had his head propped on his hand, he stared at her with his icy blue eyes. It was actually quite unnerving despite the fact he was only 30.

"You're being very immature, you know."

"Maybe it's just because your old," Abel said meaning it as a joke but it wasn't funny at all. He could have at least smiled.

"Do you think I'm old?" Seth asked Mirka who was seated on the bench dressed as the empress.

"Not at all," Mirka answered. Despite the fact she wore a veil, Seth could see a hint of a smile behind it. "He was born before you, after all."

Seth stuck her tongue at Abel as if saying, '_see, I'm not old_' and_ 'you just need to grow up!' _

She turned back to Mirka and whispered something to her, making sure Abel wouldn't hear. Mirka nodded and clapped her hands.

Immediately a servant jumped into action and bowed to her. Mirka whispered to the servant to get the items Seth wanted. The servant bowed again before racing off to get them.

Abel scowled and jumped down from the roof just as Seth turned to him. "What were you whispering about?" Abel asked, there was an edge to his voice. Even still, he was mistrusting of her.

"Nothing, I just wanted to do a test of sorts. All you need to do is smell something for me… and drink it if you want."

"What's the point of this?" Abel grumbled, rolling his eyes. Seth smiled as she grabbed the cups filled with red liquid. She set them down on the bench Mirka was on.

"Smell this," Seth said handing him a random cup, as she took off the cover.

"Smell it?" Abel looked at her to the cup and back again. He swished the liquid in the cup and kept it at arms length as if expecting it to explode in his face.

"Just smell it. It's not going to explode or anything." Abel frowned, and sniffed it. "What do you think it is?"

"Blood."

"Great now this one," Seth took the cup from him before he could say something, and handed him another. This one also had a cover on it. Holding her breath Seth held out her hand.

"What the hell is that?" Abel snapped, taking a step back. He didn't take the cup from her. "It smells like sewage water!" Seth passed the cup to Mirka who took it and downed it in a few famished gulps. "Hell, it smells even more rancid then sewage water!" Abel put a hand to his nose, " How can you drink that?" he looked like he was about to be sick.

"Here smell this," Seth said, finally taking in a breath. She could still smell a bit of the terran blood but not as much as before.

"If it smells I'm going to dump it on your head," Abel mumbled. He sniffed the air and didn't take the cup. "Wine."

"Want it?"

"No."

"Fine," Seth drank the contents of the cup. As she did so Abel turned and jumped onto the roof. Seth saw him walk along the edge before he went farther toward the middle, disappearing from her view. She had a feeling he was going to his room. Seth sighed. He didn't even ask her what the purpose of all that was.

"Tell me again how he became the emperor," Mirka said grinning broadly at Seth.

XXX

Abel leapt down to the balcony which led to his room. It was much larger then the room he was given on mars but like mars it was just as empty. The plush carpet must have been the soften thing he ever felt in his entire life. The clothes Seth had prepared for him was made out of the finest cloth. Everything she had given him screamed wealth, much more then he would care to think.

_-Tap-tap-tap- _Abel spun around, his arms outstretched ready to attack whatever was making the sound.

"Sir," a dark figure bowed to Abel with a hand over his heart. He looked up and his dark long hair framed his face. "Have you been doing well? Mein Heir has requested me to get you."

"Did you know he was lying to me?" Abel asked Isaac.

"Sorry?"

"Did you know Cain was lying to me?" Abel growled. "He lied to me about the UN and my sister!"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that question," Isaac said and bowed his head. "We are running out of time. Either you come with me now or not at all." Isaac looked at his watch.

Abel growled in frustration and took a step forward. Isaac nodded and the area around Abel began to get blurred and distorted. He could feel his stomach doing flips, as they moved quickly through space. A minute later they arrived in a damp room with a large indoor pool.

"Brother," Abel acknowledged the man in the pool.

"Abel, it's nice seeing you again. For a minute there I thought I would never see you again," Cain chuckled. He climbed out the pool and Isaac draped a robe over his shoulder.

"Cut the crap Cain! You knew Seth was still alive and you still lied to me! Are you going to tell me Lilith is also alive? I've already picked up a few hints that I'm still alive I just never met myself yet! Why did you lie to me? The UN no longer exist, why did you tell me other wise? You told me they killed Lilith, Seth and I! And what's this about methuselah and the sun? Oh, and you better not tell me I drank blood." Abel yelled at his brother. Rage and anger was as clear as day on his face.

"First, if I didn't lie to you, you wouldn't have listened," Cain waved his middle finger, then he also pointed his pointer finger. "Second, Lilith is dead. Third, your older self is alive but he's not exactly with us at the moment," he said in a sing song voice. "Fourth, the UN no longer exist. I lied about this and I'm sorry, but we both know you wouldn't have listened if I said otherwise. Fifth, it's kinda hard to explain, but~ lets just say the methuselah are like our cattle. So yes you did drink blood." Cain smiled, and waved his five fingers at Abel. Well at least that explained part of that test Seth had him take. He had guessed there was something wrong with the wine, or blood. He even had the slight urge to attack people who where methuselah on more then one occasion. Blood… So gross, he would never accept any drinks from anyone ever again.

"Lilith is dead?"

Cain nodded and Abel shook his head, looking away.

When he looked back up Abel snapped. "You idiot! Do you really think that after telling me that I would still trust you?"

"Yep! You know me so well!"

"You're so infuriating! Why did you bring me here? I want the truth, not another lie," Abel snapped.

"To put it simply 02 and 03 don't trust me. You and Seth don't trust me. So in order to change that I brought you here, and sent 02 on a little trip to your time," Cain said nonchalantly.

"Well I can see why they don't trust you in this time! Quite frankly I agree with them! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't blast you right now!" Abel reached for his gun, and pulled it out in one swift motion. He aimed it at Cain's shoulder, his finger resting on the trigger.

"Because I'm the only one that can get you back to your time," Cain said with a shrug. "Besides that small gun won't hurt me much anyway."

Abel growled and glared at Cain, his hand dropped to his side and he put his gun back into the holster. "How far along are you with that device?" Abel demanded.

"Not very," Cain shrugged again. "By the way has the crusnik activated yet?"

"What does that have to do with-" Abel cut off at the smile Cain gave him. It sent chills up his spine. "According to Seth it has."

"Has anything else happened? Anything weird?"

"No?" Abel said now highly confused, he said it so it sounded more like a question then it was a statement. He didn't understand what Cain was getting at.

Cain's smile widened into an evil smirk. He whispered something to Isaac who nodded then bowed when Cain finished. Abel scowled at Cain as he and Isaac approached him.

"I'll be taking you back now," Isaac said.

"And I'll be coming," Cain added in a sing song voice. Abel was about to mention the fact Cain wore nothing but a bath robe, however before he could get a word out the space around him got distorted as they were sent spiraling back to the empire.

(Past)

Abel's head bobbed up above the water. The only way out was to move the boulder, but even if he did, Abel knew, the water wouldn't drain fast enough. Damn! Abel spun around again, the water pounding him from above. He couldn't see anyway out of this! His eyes darted around the metal frame of the spaceship. The water stopped pouring in from above and was now coming in from the sides of the wall.

Taking a breath, Abel dove down. He searched desperately for anything that could help, a switch, a door, anything. Abel ran one hand over what appeared to be a control panel, pressing whatever he could. Nothing happened. Abel resurfaced and took another deep breath before diving down again. This time he circled around the walls.

Something slammed into him without warning. Abel gasped from the strike but instead of air, water entered his lungs. Bubbles erupted from his mouth. He kicked off the ground and swam to the surface. Nothing. The whole ship was filled with water. His fist feebly hit the roof of the ship. He was dead, he was so going to die in here.

Abel forced himself to calm down. His lungs were starving for air. He had ten minutes at the most before he ran out of breath. Abel glided around the side of the metal walls. He felt a small current coming from under one of the indentions in the wall. He tapped it, and the current got stronger. Using every last bit of strength Abel pounded the wall. The current buffeted him and sent him spiraling head long into the opposite wall.

Before he could hit the wall it opened up into an even larger space. Abel was sent skidding across the now wet floor and the door closed behind him preventing any more water from entering. Abel coughed as he gasped for air. That was not fun.

Standing up, Abel looked around room. He hadn't even known in existed till now. It looked different from the rooms he had seen before. This one was completely empty with walls made of metal. Ever square yard of the place had a cone like hole in the walls, floor and roof. This room was very large and square like. On the opposite side of the wall Abel could see a large circe with an 'S' shape in the middle. This was the only place without the cone shaped holes.

Something smelt wrong about his place. Abel sniffed again as he tried to place it. His ears twitched to the right, just as fire erupted from the roof to his side.

"What!" Abel yelped in surprise. As he did another jet of fire was shot out randomly. Abel made a sprint for the door. It seemed to be the only way out of this new trap. As he neared the door the cones started to shoot out even more fire all at once.

"Ah-ah-ah," a teasing voice scolded from somewhere. "Not so fast. It wouldn't be fun if you had nothing to loose." The voice was distorted to sound like a machine.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" Abel stopped to yell. Bad move. Searing hot pain shot up Abel's arm. He clutched his right shoulder but only caused it to enflame even more.

"I took the liberty of getting you a team mate." Abel was to busy dodging the incoming fire balls no even notice what the voice had said.

A smaller door then the first, opened up at one of the corners of the room. A sliding panel slid into the room. Lilith was on it, unconscious. Rage enveloped Abel at the sight of his love. How dare they drag Lilith into this mess! If she was injured, he would personally make sure the culprit would never dare do something like this again.

"Better hurry and save her!" the irritating voice chuckled. It made Abel sick just listening to it. "You wouldn't want her to get burned would you?"

Abel growled in frustration as he slowly made his way to Lilith. He was forced to back track a couple times thanks to the walls of fire. By the time he finally got to her, his shirt was completely scorched and was discolored thanks to the fire. His boots on the other hand were completely burnt, and lay in the middle of the room like a lump of charcoal. He couldn't even tell it had once been shoes.

"Lilith are you okay?" Abel shook her gently. "Wake-" Abel yanked her arm, dragging the rest of her body after it. A millisecond later a jet of fire erupted from above, below and from the side of where Lilith had just been. "Please wake up," Abel begged as he shifted her weight so he carried her bridal style.

Abel dodged the onslaught of fire, most of his attention on Lilith. He didn't even care that his feet where bleeding, leaving a track of his foot prints with every step he took. It wasn't until his back hit a wall that Abel finally drew his attention away from Lilith. Not good, he was in a corner. As if on cue, the fire shot out where Abel was.

His whole body was on fire, sending waves of pain to his brain. Shrieking in pain, Abel felt himself collapse to the ground. He hugged Lilith and tried covering her body from the flames of hell. They couldn't give up here! They? Abel clenched his eyes shut waiting for the flames to die down. He didn't think he could get up again, but he did. His head throbbed with pain as he forced himself to stand with Lilith still wrapped in his arms. He expected her to be burnt at least a little considering how little he was and how little he could cover her body, but oddly enough she seemed uninjured. The only signs of ever being near fire was her clothes.

Abel fought his way through the fire. If not him then at least Lilith needed to get out of here safely. He ignored the pain as the fire scorched his back and legs. Finally getting to the exit Abel put a shaky hand to the door. It hissed open and Abel stepped through just as a jet of fire shot from the ground where Abel had been standing a second before. That was a close one.

"Well done," the voice praised. Abel could hear the man clapping.

Abel ignored the voice and found a spot on the floor to lay Lilith down. She stirred as he did so, and he found himself holding his breath. Golden eyes met his light blue ones. She blinked a few times and moaned. "Abel?"

"Thank God you're okay," Abel sighed in relief.

"God, Abel? Since when have you believed in any higher power?" she teased and tried getting up. He helped her sit up by taking her hand and steading her.

"Haha, you're right," Abel gave her an all knowing smile.

"Where are we anyway? Last thing I remember; I was talking to Seth over the radio, in the William's suite.

"The alien spacecraft where we found the nano machines."

"This doesn't look like the place we found them at," Lilith shook her head. Her eyes scanned the room they were in.

"Apparently it had a few rooms in it we hadn't known about," Abel stated bitterly.

"Ah-hem," the irritating voice coughed, causing Abel to scowl and Lilith to look around. "You two are taking to long! Hurry up to the next door before I space your next team mate!"

"I won't be doing any such thing until you tell me what game you're playing at! You're involving innocent people here!" Abel growled up to the ceiling.

"Merely a game to test you, 02," the voice said, Cain said. Abel should have known it was him. Abel just didn't want to believe it. His brother had caused so much pain and suffering already, he didn't want to add this to the list. Even so Abel wouldn't tell Lilith who it was until he was certain it really was Cain.

"Why are you testing me?"

"No reason. Boredom I guess!" Cain shouted in glee.

"Abel who is that?" Lilith asked.

Abel looked at her and gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "Just some rogue colonist who wants to cause trouble," Abel answered. He looked away and in serious voice asked, "what do we have to do to get out of here?"

"Hmm? I don't want to tell you!" Cain pouted playfully. "You'll just have to play along." Abel could almost see his brother's face smiling at him with that fake smile. It chilled him to the bone to think he was related to such a psycho maniac.

* * *

**A/N: **I've finally found my achilles' heel, making videos! I had a project where I needed to make a video, it didn't turn out bad but God, did it take a long time for me to finish. It's partly why this chapter is so late, sorry. Anyway please review.

**Notice:** I don't own, Tabitha, Kayson, Darin, Alaric or Shane. Flame800900 does.


	19. Chapter 19

(Present)

"Are you insane?" Abel- no, 02 yelled at his brother.

"Who knows maybe I am," Cain smiled. "At least I'm not a grump." Cain tightened the rope on his robe, and his claws elongated, turning into a wicked black.

"You could have at least worn more clothes! What happens if Seth finds you here?" 02 started ranting off a whole list of why Cain was an idiot. His back was turned to Cain as he shuffled the clothes in his wardrobe, unaware of the danger behind him.

02 pulled out a pair of pants, he shook it out and looked at it. Now! Cain thrust his hand through 02's chest. His hand grazed his heart, he had missed on purpose but it felt so good knowing he was in power. All he needed to do was move his hand and 02 would die. Blood sprayed against the black pants 02 held.

"Okay, now I know you're insane," 02 hissed in pain and his body shook. He turned his head to the side and Cain could see the whites of his eyes turning into a crimson red. Fangs protruded out of his mouth. Good, now Cain knew for certain that 02 had awakened. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he growled. 02 twisted around, his hand over his chest. Cain removed his hand from the wound. Blood spurted out and hit the plush carpet, turning it red. 02 took a step toward Cain, but collapsed before he could attack. Blood pooled around his brother and Cain watched with an amused look as 02 bled to death.

"Vial," Cain lifted his bloodied hand to Isaac. The Methuselah uncapped a small glass bottle and handed it to Cain. Cain knelt down by 02's head and grabbed a handful of his silver hair. 02 groaned in pain.

"Is this you're twisted idea of a joke?" 02 growled, his words were slurred together..

"Maybe it is."

"That's no answer."

Cain chuckled and poured the contents of the bottle into 02's mouth. He held his hand to his jaw, making it impossible for 02 to spit out the drug. 02 thrashed around, his movements slowed because of his wound. After a few minutes of weakened struggling, 02 went limp and swallowed the drug.

"Starving for blood yet?" Cain whispered into 02's ear. His brother shivered, as Cain ran a tongue over his bloodied neck.

Cain stood and 02 curled himself into a tight ball, his back arched up, in pain. "Crusnik 02 release of restriction to 80% activate." Black wings ripped through his shirt and arched up. A powerful down beat of his wings made 02 stand on unsteady feet. Cain drank in the sight of the fallen angel. He could only imagine the havoc his brother would cause in this state. His only regret was he couldn't be able to see it. Cain nodded to Isaac. The ground warped around them and they disappeared from sight. The shriek of a crusnik followed after them.

XXX

"Did you hear that?" Seth asked as she stood up abruptly, looking away from Mirka. Her eyes went to the roof of the palace.

"I did," Mirka confirmed her fear. She also stood. Without another word Seth entered a state of haste and jumped onto the roof, sprinting to Abel's room. She could hear Mirka ordering the servants away from the room.

A scent struck Seth as she jumped into the room. Blood coated the carpets and a section of the wall had splotches of blood. Crusnik blood.

"Abel?" Seth moved around the large bed with the canopy. Her voice caught in her throat. Short silver hair swarmed up around Abel's face, his black wings lay limply on the ground. Her brother took in jagged breaths. "Abel, what happened?" Seth put a hand on Abel's arm. He flinched, and cracked open an eye.

"Cain," Abel moaned the name. He squeezed his eyes shut in pain, his body shook sending sparks of electricity across the room. "S-Seth I-I can't fight i-it. I-I- they want-" Abel sputtered and gasped, unable to finish his sentence.

"Shhh," Seth soothed, she needed to get methuselah blood fast, before he attacked someone. To late. Someone knocked on the door, a second later it clicked as a key unlocked the door. Seth tightened her grip on Abel's arm. She couldn't let him harm them. "Get out!" she ordered. The methuselah didn't listen and stepped in.

The reaction was immediate. Abel stopped shaking and his eyes lit up wildly, landing on Asthe. His fangs became even longer as he stared at her in shock. "Abel, just calm down," Seth ordered trying to remain calm.

"What happened here?" Asthe asked taking a step closer. Her eyes swept past Abel, she back tracked, her eyes taking in the large amount of blood on the carpet.

"Get out!" Seth whipped around, glaring at Asthe. Abel was already on his feet, a hand on his temple. He mumbled something incomprehensible, his eyes darting from Asthe then back to his feet. "Fight it Abel," Seth urged. With Asthe here it was the only thing she could do. "Tell Mirka I need blood!" Seth ordered turning back to Asthe. She needed her to leave.

As if the word 'blood' were a trigger, Abel straightened. He looked at Asthe with murderous eyes. No, Abel! Abel's wings shifted and his feet skimmed across the carpet as if he were gliding. He disappeared in a black fury before reappearing behind Asthe. Seth blinked. Abel's fang sunk into Asthe's throat. Asthe opened her mouth into a silent shriek.

"Abel no!" Seth yelled. She ran up to Asthe, and pulled Abel away from her. Asthe collapsed on all fours breathing heavily, while Abel stared at her in shock at what had just happened.

He still looked like he was having trouble suppressing the crusnik, but at least he was in control... for now. His wings seemed to shrink before withering away. Abel's hair fell around his face.

"You should have ran," Seth said to Asthe. She meant it to sound stern, but instead her voice was shaking.

"What happened and what's up with… birdboy?" Asthe said, trying to joke even though she was weak from blood loss. As she said this, the door opened up again revealing four yeniceri. Baybars was at the lead. Abel looked at them and moaned with a hand to his head.

"Bring me some blood, for Asthe and him," Seth said looking at Baybars. Telling him silently she needed methuselah blood and terran blood. He looked at the two of them before looking back at Seth with a somewhat confused look, Baybars bowed and ordered his men to leave. He followed after them. Once the door closed Seth looked back at Asthe. "Well-"

"Someone attacked me and I got injured, I guess I mistook you for a terran," Abel cut in. His eyes were locked on the roof, back pressed against the wall, as far as he could get from Asthe. Seth turned to him scowling. _"Do you want her to know we live off methuselah blood?" _Abel asked in a different language. This only caused Seth's scowl to harden. _"Yes, I know we drink blood," _he answered her unspoken question.

"Who attacked you?" Asthe asked. She shifted around so she could look at him. Abel shrugged and shook his head. "How dare they attack a member of the imperial family," she snarled. "When we catch him he'll pay dearly!" She seemed to have forgotten the fact Abel had just attacked her.

There was silence in the room punctured only by Abel and Asthe's breathing. Abel's breathing was heavier. Even still he was fighting with the crusnik. The door opened and Seth glanced at it. Baybars entered with a maid who held a tray with the blood. She passed Abel a cup then Asthe. She needed to circle around a few times to refill their glass. "I'll prepare another room," she said before leaving.

_"Two questions: Why is Cain the enemy and where is Lilith?"_ Abel asked. _"Cain said she died, is this true?" _There was worry in his eyes, despite the fact his voice sounded all business.

Seth nodded her head slowly, not sure if she should tell him the real reason Cain was their foe. To her solace Abel seemed to forget his first question and didn't press matters.

"I don't need to show you respect, right?" Asthe spoke up, giving Abel a quizzical look. "Well I find is really unnerving whenever you speak in different languages. It makes me feel like you're talking about me behind my back." Asthe's statement seemed to lighten the intense mood in the room. Seth started laughing and Baybar's who still hadn't left dropped open his mouth as if he couldn't believe what she had just said. Abel smirked but it was gone so fast Seth wasn't even sure if she had seen it. She was thankful for Asthe's comment, otherwise she might have actually told Abel the truth and that wouldn't have been good.

(Past: Alien space craft)

"Here's a tip, Lilith: never trust strange men," Abel said scowling. "Even if you think you know the guy, you should always be careful, and if you are given something, say a paper, you should have the person sign it before you do anything else like meeting with him." Abel put his hand to the next door and it hissed open.

They had already gone through several different rooms, all apart of Cain's so called games. A pit of spikes, a tunnel of bugs, a maze of mirrors with the added affect of making the people reflected in it 3d and solid beings that could actually talk. A rock wall, a video game that caused the player to receive the same damages as they did in the game… Cain must have been very bored because he even gave them a test on paper, saying something about wanting to know how smart they were.

"So should I not trust you then?" Lilith asked in a teasing voice. "After all how do I know you are who you say you are?"

"No-"

"Why do I get the feeling you're referring to something else?" Lilith asked, her voice becoming one of a mother. Abel looked at her and was caught off guard when a stone wall slammed into him. He was sent flying into the next. "Are you okay?" Lilith worried, rushing to his side.

"Great now, its shifting walls!" Abel growled as he stood up rubbing the back of his neck. "What next? Some dragon creature comes flying through the doors, shooting fire? At this point I don't think anything can surprise me anymore! Maybe Frankenstein will appear out of no where and revive some mummies!" Abel threw up his arms in exasperated irritation... "Wow, I must be an oracle or something."

Lilith followed Abel's eyes, not getting what he was talking about. Her eyes widened at the sight of twenty figures jumping from wall to wall, as they shifted and moved at great speeds. The creatures all had skinny frames, it was hard to believe they were able to stand up at all. Their arms looked like twigs that could easily break, but even so Lilith could tell these things weren't normal. Their pale skin was wrapped tightly around their bodies, the only thing covering them were thin rags. Theirs eyes were sunken to give them a ghostly look, much like a skull and their eyes where glowing a sickly green.

All of them carried rusted swords and machetes. One of them snarled and lunged at Abel, him being the closest one. Lilith watched in amazement as Abel's hand snaked to the creatures skull and chucked it into one of the many walls. More lunged at Abel, and he did the same to all of them. He didn't move positions at all, except for when the walls moved.

Wait, he wasn't moving because he didn't need to, but because he couldn't! Lilith saw the trail of blood that led to Abel. How could she not have seen it before? He was in a terrible condition. Abel's feet where bleeding leaving his foot prints everywhere he stepped. A large rip in his shirt was visible each time he faced his back to her. Lilith had thought his shirt was wet from sweat, but it was actually blood. Curse his black clothing! If she had known sooner she would have done something!

Lilith jumped onto one of the moving blocks, she was almost caught off guard at how fast it was moving. Calming herself she jumped onto the block just above it, before she went onto the next. Lilith kept glancing down at Abel. By now all of them were attacking Abel, none of them seemed to notice Lilith at all. Hopping onto another wall, she looked around, looking for the next exit. It was an unspoken rule, that she would be Abel's eyes while he dealt with everything else. She had tried helping him once when they were in the spike pit, but Abel refused. A tear threatened to escape and Lilith wiped it away. She would need to scold Abel after they got out of this level.

"I could have sworn I broke his spinal cord!" Abel yelped, as he jumped away from the incoming wall. It didn't halt as it slammed into some of the zombie looking creatures. There was a never ending wave of them. No matter how many times he fought with one of them, they always came back for more. Several of them didn't even have legs, and they still hobbled their way to him. He had taken out several of them by slicing off their heads but the heads stayed animated. The only way to deal with them was to cut through their brain. At least he didn't have to be worried about their blood spraying on him.

"Lilith, do you see anything?" Abel yelled, over the snarling of the creatures and the screeching of shifting walls.

"No!" Lilith called back. "Usually the door is on one of the walls, but I don't see anything!"

"Don't panic, Lilith, just take your time," Abel said. "Panic is your worst enemy in times like this!"

"No need to quote General Hall!" Lilith called back. She seemed to have calmed down after hearing that; for which Abel was grateful for even though he hated the man.

"I'm not quoting him," Abel said playfully, as he picked up a sword and thrust it though a creatures head. "So what do you think of my, fortune telling? Pretty good huh?"

"As if! This is anything but good! Why couldn't you predict something better? Like a room filled with food? Or a room with water slides, like water park?"

"Okay~ I predict we'll make it out of this game and go straight to the mess hall," Abel declared.

"What about the water park?" Lilith asked.

"I don't see any future involving a water park-"

"I see it!" Lilith called down to Abel. There was only one creature left and he took it down with no problems. "We'll need to jump from wall to wall, to get there. It's at the very top," she pointed up.

Abel groaned softly. "Go on ahead of me! I'll meet you there!" Abel called back in an up beat voice. "I think I saw something. I want to get a look at it." It was true enough, he had seen something, but wasn't sure if he had seen it correctly.

Lilith jumped down and landed squarely in front of Abel. She poked his chest with a finger, and glared down at him. "You just want me to go on ahead because you're injured!" He hadn't been smaller then her in many years, so it felt odd having to look up at her as she scolded him. "You should have told me earlier! Now it'll take longer for me to address your wounds, and longer for them to heal! Look at this!" she gently poked Abel's arm. "You're wound reopened!"

"But I really did notice something," Abel protested. He tried turning away from her, but an incoming barricade of wall forced him back. "Besides it'll take a lot more then this to impair me. Really, I'm fine." Abel gave Lilith a small smile and motioned for her to follow him. He jumped onto several moving walls before jumping down onto solid ground. Abel walked to one of the walls that hadn't moved at all. He tapped on it lightly, and a hollow sound vibrated through out the large hedge.

Moving around to the side Abel noted that it was made out of metal. At the very end of it, was a large hole just big enough for a body to fit in it.

"Well, done!" a voice boomed causing Abel to flinch, and twitch his ears. Man was that loud. "You've just found your next team mate! Take her, and proceed the next room. I'm feeling nice at the moment so I will give you… 20 minutes of break." The com turned off, and the walls stopped shifting. A metal platform rolled out of the hedge. On it Tabitha was unconscious, just like Lilith had been. Abel lifted her off the sliding platform before kicking it back in.

He made sure not use his injured shoulder to support her weight. He didn't want Lilith to worry. Abel started walking off when he heard the panel slide out again. He turned to see what Lilith was doing when, he saw Seth. First Cain involves Lilith, then he involves Tabitha and finally Seth! Just what was he thinking?

"I'll carry, Tabitha," Lilith spoke up. She gave Abel a look telling him, nothing was going to change her mind. Lilith took Tabitha in her arms. "You carry Seth. As soon as we get up there, I'm checking your wounds whether you like it or not. No if, ands, or buts."

"Sheesh, you sound like a mother," Abel rolled his eyes smiling. He picked up Seth.

"Someone needs a good head on their shoulders."

"Whatever you say, mother," Abel teased. He really wanted to hug her and tell her how much he loved her but for some reason he ended up teasing her. In the end if he told her his feeling right now, it could affect the future, and that was something that not even he wanted to play with.

"Hey, at least I'm not an old geezer. You must have wrinkly skin and grey… Well, your hair has always been the color of an old man…"

"Yup, that's right I have wrinkly skin like a prune," Abel said sounding serious. He shifted Seth so that Lilith couldn't see him smiling, as he tried not to laugh. They started jumping from wall to wall.

Once out of the room, Lilith and Abel set down their 'new team mates,' and Lilith checked his wounds. First his feet then moving to his back and arms. It was a good thing she always kept bandages on her.

"I wonder what those things where," Lilith wondered out loud, as she dressed his wounds. Abel nodded, he had been thinking the same thing. "They looked to be humanoid but their stalwart was anything but human."

"Could be a parasite," Abel shrugged, then flinched because of his wound. "Or maybe they were aliens."

"Abel, can you stop joking around this is serious," Lilith said. "We have no clue who that voice belongs to and we have no way out. For all we know we could be going around in circles! We haven't eaten anything today… and you haven't eaten anything since you got here, and water doesn't count!"

"I'm sure we'll find away out. I'm from the future remember? I know for a fact, Nightlord will see you again." He stopped talking and looked at Seth and Tabitha.

"What happened?" Seth shifted and moaned.

"I feel like someone hit me with a jack hammer," Tabitha said right after her.

"It's a long story," Lilith sighed as she rapped a bandage around Abel's torso.

Tabitha and Seth turned to her. "What happened?" Seth almost yelled. At the same time Tabitha said, "Sir…? You look extremely lacerated."

* * *

**A/N: **The reason why Abel Nightlord isn't freaking out over Lilith's death is because he is still unsure of his feelings for her, and he's unsure of how to express his feelings. He feels sad and upset about it but he doesn't know how to react.

**Notice:** I don't own, Tabitha, Kayson, Darin, Alaric or Shane. Flame800900 does.

Please review, you'll make me happy if you do... hey that rhymes... or at least it sounds like a rhyme


	20. Chapter 20

(Past)

Lilith quickly updated the girls on their situation, as she continued tending to Abel's wounds. Tabitha and Seth had asked many questions, Tabitha more then Seth just because she had never seen the ship before. When their twenty minutes of break was up, the voice told them to get moving. Threatening that if they didn't leave the room with in the minute a swarm of poisonous misquotes would enter the room.

"Does anyone else notice how jumpy Abel is?" Seth whispered, behind her hand to Lilith and Tabitha, as they all followed Abel. They were in a net work of tunnels. It reminded Seth of an ant farm she was given, when she was younger. Somehow Abel knew where they were going and what passages to avoid. "It almost seems like he's trying to avoid us," Seth explained.

"He wasn't like that when it was just him and I," Lilith whispered back.

"It's because he's trying to keep his distance from us. He's acting as a pawn, to be sacrificed. If there is anything dangerous, he'll be the first to deal with it and can give us a warning," Tabitha asserted. "It's a military tactic."

"I hope he knows he can't do everything by himself, the risk is to high," Lilith sighed. Seth nodded her agreement.

"Wait here," Abel called over his shoulder. He slipped into a side tunnel. The sound of metal hitting metal could be heard from within, then the ground shook slightly. Abel reappeared saying, "it's blocked off, we'll have to go around."

"I think he's keeping something from us," Seth hissed. "Who wants to ask him why he's not telling us the whole truth? There must have been something else in that tunnel."

"After you," Tabitha said. "I won't be the one asking him questions. I think he's still mad at me for giving him all that paper work."

"You gave him paper work?" Lilith asked in shock. Tabitha nodded. "Did he actually finish it?" again Tabitha nodded. "I need to know how you got him to do work," Lilith said in bemusement. She looked at Abel in wonder, she couldn't believe Abel actually did any paper work willingly.

"Hello~ We were talking about asking Abel; what he's keeping from us, not paper work," Seth nearly yelled, but stopped herself, when she remembered Abel was right there and might hear her.

"You can ask him," Lilith and Tabitha said in unison. Seth pouted and crossed her arm over her chest. She stalked off after Abel, Lilith and Tabitha right behind her.

"Hey, Abel!" Seth called. "How do you know which way is right?"

"I don't, I'm going on tuition," Abel answered. He glanced at the five tunnels before him before taking the second to the right.

"Are you serious!"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Abel asked.

"You could be leading us in circles!" Seth exclaimed. She looked back at Tabitha and Lilith who also had a look of worry after hearing what Abel had said.

"I'm not leading us in circles… I guess tuition isn't the right word. It's more of an educated guess," Abel said, still not looking at her. "I think each of these tunnels lead to a different room. The last one I went to had a door in it, proving my hypothesis. "We have already passed several doors and I marked them all. If we were going in circles I would know." Abel looked past Seth and pointed down a tunnel. "That one leads to a door, and if we take a right we'll end up at a fork."

"Okay, so how do we know which door to take" Tabitha asked.

"I've already opened a couple doors, they both led to a different room. It doesn't matter which door we take." Abel circled around three tunnels in front of them. Then took the middle.

"Are you just taking random tunnels that look different?"

"Each tunnel has a different wind current, I'm following the one that's the strongest. I'm hoping it will lead us outside," Abel answered.

"Do you want us to suffocate to death?" Seth barked. "There's no oxygen outside!"

"Wait, if it really does lead us outside then why is the air so warm? Shouldn't it be colder?" Lilith asked, puzzled.

"The dome that keeps the oxygen in the colony also keeps the temperature a normal earth temperature," Abel responded. "If I'm right one of these tunnels will lead us back to the colony."

"That makes sense," Tabitha nodded. "But how does this tunnel lead to the colony? It must have been built centuries ago, or at least before we landed on mars."

Abel paused and looked around. "We need to go up," Abel pointed to a tunnel that was just above his head. "We probably built the colony above these tunnels, without knowing what was bellow it. After that… someone must have extended the tunnel, once we got here."

"By someone do you mean that voice?" Seth asked. Abel nodded. He hoisted Seth on his shoulders and helped her up onto the edge of the overhanging cliff that led into another tunnel. He followed after her.

"First thing I'm going to do is soak my feet," Abel mumbled. "My feet are killing me."

"Old man," Seth chuckled.

"Am not," Abel growled. He didn't want to mention how his feet got burned for fear that Lilith would worry. "Sheez, did you actually hear that?"

The girls nodded and Abel snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Maybe you should consider staying a kid, and growing up again," Seth suggested, laughing.

"And be treated like a kid? No thanks. I've already gotten scolded, more then I care to think about, thanks to this body."

"It's not that bad," Seth said. "As a kid you can get away with a lot of things… here on mars at least. Not so much back at the UN. The adults think I'm a child and treat me as such even though they know I'm not, so I get out of things a lot easier."

"We're here," Abel spoke up, ignoring what Seth had been saying about his age. "Go straight to the capital, I have something to deliver."

"Deliver?" all three girls said at the same time.

"Some old couple asked me to deliver a message to someone," Abel said. It was a lie. There was no old couple brought to mars. Fortunately none of the girls seemed to notice his slip up.

XXX

Cain pulled the hood on his cape up. He made sure it cast shadows over his face. He knocked on the door before him. Cain smirked, it was fun playing around with 02. His brother was always amusing, even when he was stuck in that small body. The only thing Cain found strange was the way he acted with Lilith. Cain had noticed the difference in the way this Abel and the other one interacted with Lilith. In truth, it galled him to the bone seeing Abel acting that way with her.

"Come in," Shane welcomed him into the rebels base. "I hope you brought the promised items. Darin and Alaric are in foul moods."

"I have them," Cain said in a sing song voice. His voice distorted thanks to the com, he connected to his coat. "Have you still not told Alaric why you guys kidnapped the kid?"

"No I'm afraid not. If he knew the truth he would start a fight," Shane sighed. "What have you done with the kid anyway?" Shane asked as he led Cain down the hall and into one of the many meeting rooms.

"I'm keeping that to myself, just know he's still alive," Cain chuckled. He saw Shane roll his eyes and smirk, saying something about Can being a mysterious guy, who was practically family. Shane left Cain in the room, with Darin. "Here are the promised items."

Cain passed a case over the table. The contents were mostly, tranquilizers, with a few extra ration slips. "I trust it's all here?" Darin ran his hand over the latch to the case. He looked up at Cain.

"It's there," Cain confirmed. He bowed his head. "If you need anything else, tell me and I will provide it. On the condition that you do my bidding at times, as always."

"A small price to pay," Darin replied, as Cain left the room. Cain nodded, showing that he heard, but didn't care.

Cain moved into the lower level of the building. He had dug a tunnel here that connected to a part of the space craft. Cain shifted through the red rubble until he saw the opening. He looked around before jumping through it. He was already aware of the fact 02 had traveled in these tunnels and had escaped. Cain walked down the maze like passages until he came to a cliff like edge. He jumped on it and sat on the red dirt floor.

Waiting for 02 to find him wouldn't take long. Blood pounded in his ears as adrenaline pumped into him. He couldn't wait to have a one on one with his brother.

(Present)

"Morning!" Seth greeted Esther and the kids, making sure to exchange methuselah time with human time. Abel and Asthe were behind her. "The last time you came here, you didn't get to see what the empire is really like, so if you don't mind I'll have Asthe show you around. I think Ion will also like to join you."

"You don't need to trouble yourself for my sake," Esther said, feeling a bit embarrassed. She didn't like making other people worry about her.

"It's fine, after all I did drag you into my affairs the last time you came here. Let me repay your troubles by this little show of gratitude," Seth assured her.

"I understand however-"

_"I also want Asthe to show you around town because I need to be alone with my brother for a while. Something happened, and I need to discuss it with him. I need an excuse for Asthe not to be there when I talk to him," _Seth said in hungarian.

"Okay," Esther gave Asthe a short bow. "Thank you for the offer, I except."

"You don't need to bow to me," Asthe chuckled. "You're my friend not one of my servants. Now that idiot priest on the other hand… I wouldn't mind him bowing to me."

"Father Nightroad?" Eris asked. She hissed at Asthe, "you shouldn't be so mean to him!" Asthe just smirked and shrugged.

"I'll get the count, you four should get ready," Asthe turned and left the six of them.

"Thanks Esther, I feel like I'm using you again," Seth gave her an apologetic smile.

"It should be me who's thanking you!" Esther protested. Seth shook her head, and smiled.

"I'll have some servants bring in a light snack, and some spending money," Seth said. "Have fun!"

Later:

"I think you have a rat problem," Abel commented, as he followed Seth down the hall. He glanced back to see a small ball of white fur, running towards them.

"Rat problem?" Seth asked, and scowled. She stopped, suddenly, almost causing Abel to walk into her. "We haven't had any rats in the palace since… well, a very long time." Seth glared up at Abel, she obviously thought he was lying.

"Oh, and now you're the one who's mad?" asked Abel. He should have been the one to be mad considering how much his sister was keeping from him, right? Why'd she get so mad any way, all he did was mention a rat, and she decides to yell at him. Girls! What could you do?

"I should be the one mad considering you haven't told me the whole story! How could you have forgotten to mention the wings? Do I also have a tail? I would really love having a tail! After all I- Ouch!" Abel flung his hand. He heard a slight hissing sound. "What was that about not having a rat problem?" Abel asked, looking at his bleeding finger. He felt almost detached, as he the small cut stitched the skin together.

"Are you okay, Abel?" Seth whispered to the rat. Abel looked at her, questioningly. Was she talking to him or that fur ball…? He could have sworn she just called that thing, Abel. The fur ball twisted in Seth's hands, and glared at Abel hissing. His fur standing on end. It was a squirrel.

"Stupid rat," Abel growled under his breath.

It only caused the squirrel thing, to hiss at him even more. "He's not a rat, he's a squirrel," Seth said with patients. She ran a finger over it's back and ears. Of course Seth be nicer when she saw a little fluffy animal, after all, all girls were like that right?

"It's still a rodent," Abel said, resisting the urge to growl, and sighed instead. "Could you just tell, me why you needed to talk to me? Without Astharoshe around? That way I can get on with my life?"

"First off, I think you offended him by calling him a rodent," Seth pointed a finger in his chest. "Second, it sounds weird when you call Asthe, Astharoshe. Third, I have never heard you talk about the good of your life, until today. Usually when you talk about your life you say something negative like 'I shouldn't have been created,' or something along those lines."

Abel rolled his eyes, and Seth punched him playfully on the arm, only causing him to snort. It was nice seeing this older version of Seth. At least he didn't need to worry about his sister's well being in the future. On the other hand, Lilith and Cain were totally different. Lilith was- is gone in this time, and Cain- Cain was evil. Or at least not on the same side as Abel was on.

The squirrel continued hissing at Abel, as he followed his sister through the long passages. He had lost his bearings, a few turns ago.

"Seth," Abel glanced down one of the halls, to see Mirka with Baybars. Despite the man's dark skin color, Abel could see the slight hint of him blushing. Abel looked at him, trying to make eye contact, to get a better understanding of why he was acting that way. Baybars on the other hand didn't do so, and looked at the wall, as if he found it interesting.

"I'm sorry," Mirka bowed her head, and gave Seth a cross between a sheepish and teasing smile. "I looked away for one minute and then he was gone."

"Don't worry about it, I haven't seen Abel since I left with those from the Vatican," said Seth. "So," Seth looked at Baybars then back at Mirka. "What did you tell him this time?"

"I don't know," Mirka shook her head, with a worried look, trying to be innocent. "I was just having a friendly chat with him, and then he went, and became rude!" she crossed her hands over her chest. "When you have a conversation with someone you're supposed to look at them! Not look somewhere else!"

"Hahaha, that's exactly what I've been trying to tell this kid," Seth gave Abel a friendly nudge.

"I'm not a kid," Abel growled, "and why the heck is that rodent's name, Abel?"

"It was all I could think of, when I got him," Seth answered.

"That's the worst name you couldn't picked for it."

Seth punched Abel in the gut again, causing him to grunt. "Do you have it?" she turned her attention back to Mirka and Baybars.

"Oh yes, that's right," Mirka opened a bag, Abel hadn't noticed she was carrying till now. "You have no idea how hard it was to find this. I doubt it'll even work, it's so old." She slowly took out an old belt. Rust covered most of it, so Abel couldn't make out the original color. Even still he could tell it was one of the test models, of a time traveling device, the UN had made.

* * *

**A/N: **I'd like to thank everyone for all the review's I've been getting. Special thanks to, Eltara, Kite00, Chaos, Random reader, and of course Flame800900, and everyone else who has reviewed. You guys honestly don't know how much it means to me to get all your feedback.

I'm going on month of hiatus, possibly longer. Sorry.

**Notice:** I don't own, Tabitha, Kayson, Darin, Alaric or Shane. Flame800900 does.


	21. Chapter 21

(Past)

Abel slipped through the narrow passages of the tunnel, making darn well sure no one was following him. An all to familiar scent got stronger, the deeper he traveled into the tunnels. Abel quickened his pace. His mind racing, as thoughts, one after another clouded his mind. All of them on his hate for Cain… Or was it the crusnik, he had been fused with? Abel wasn't sure all he knew was his whole being, screamed hatred, and revenge. Crusnik 02 only added to this, urging him on.

It was probably a stupid move on his part. After all what kind of idiot would willingly want to meet a psycho? Abel slowed his long strides, and reached for his still broken gun. It was more out of habit then anything else. Rounding the corner, Abel was met by Cain.

His brother sat on the red floor, giving him an insane smile, with his eyes closed, and head cocked to the side. Abel pointed his gun at Cain's head, the cold barrel resting on his forehead. It was just to bad it was broken.

"How'd you find me?" Cain pouted, and stuck his lip out as he looked up at Abel. His eyes narrowed in on the gun, and he shouted in shock, scooting away. "You could have shot me! That wouldn't have been nice. No it wouldn't!" Cain stood up, eyeing the gun as he slowly dusted himself off. "You're scaring me."

Should he activate the crusnik? Abel lowered his gun. Questions zoomed through his mind. Thousands of possibilities popped up. Among them where his own thoughts, yet on the other hand the Crusnik was putting in it's own thoughts, all of them were so different from his own, and yet at the same time, similar. It was to the point where he couldn't even sort out his own thoughts. Abel groaned, and massaged his temple, he could feel a headache coming on.

Cain frowned, then smiled suddenly. "Aw! You're so cute, when you're small! I'll forgive you just this once, okay? Okay, okay?" Somehow Cain got behind Abel, and wrapped his arms around his neck, giving Abel a bear hug.

Abel gasped and froze, unsure of how to react. Reflexed kicked in, and before he even knew what he was doing, Abel grabbed hold of Cain's arm and swung him over his shoulder and into the wall. The cave wall shook slightly as red dirt slowly fell to the ground.

"You big meany!" Cain whined and got up, only to trip over his own feet. "You sour puss, all I did was ask how you found me. Or are you mad because I hugged you?" He paused for a second, while Abel thought on what to do. "It is, isn't it? But I thought we were brothers! Shouldn't I be able to hug my own brother? Brother? Hello? Brother, are you listening to me? Brother, brother, brooooother, brother? Abel? Abel, Abel! Brother Abel? Little, brother Abel! Hey are you listening to me-"

"Shut up, you dim-wit!" Abel ordered. He stomped over to Cain, and grabbed the collar of his shirt. Cain gasped for air, and put a hand on Abel's arm. "Tell me the truth: why the hell are you here?" Abel growled the question, even though he already knew the answer.

Cain didn't answer, as he was focused on prying Abel's hand open to release his collar. Abel growled in annoyance, and chucked Cain into another wall. His brother gasped as he hit the wall. More dirt sprinkled around him

"Geez, you're so mean!" Cain complained, as he rubbed his head.

"Were you the one that, set up that 'little game?' Answer the questions Cain!" Abel's patients were wearing thin. He glared down at his look alike. One hand rested on the wall behind Cain, preventing him from standing up. "Well?"

"So what if I was?" Cain's voice still sounded as though it was still full of laughter but Abel could hear a hint of venom in it.

A hand shot out and punched Abel, sending him into the opposite wall. Red dirt began to loosen, and rained down around them. At this point Cain's once white shirt, had become a red-ish color thanks to the dirt. His usually neat hair, was messy and sticking up in all different areas. Abel could have laughed if none of this ever happened.

Picking himself up, Abel was caught off guard when the ground began shaking violently, sending him back to the ground. The tunnel began rumbling loudly, sending waves of thunderous roaring to Abel's ears. A few moments later the sound stopped suddenly, but it was soon replaced by a yelp.

Abel's attention shot back to where Cain stood. The ground beneath his brother looked like it was caving in. Without warning, the ground jolted slightly and a small crevice grew larger, creating a labyrinth of cracks that traced against the walls and ground. Abel jumped back, not trusting to stand on the cracked floor.

"Cain watch out!" Abel shouted.

Just as he shouted those words, the ground beneath Cain gave way. His brother began to disappear into the dark space Abel couldn't see. Memories began to resurface, in Abel. Time seemed to stop, as he remembered the day he and Seth dropped Cain from the vampires moon, spacing him.

Damn it all! Damn his stupid conscience to hell! Abel raced to where his brother was falling. Time seemed to stop around Cain, allowing Abel to reach him, just before he fell into the depths of the large fissure.

Taking hold of Cain's hand, Abel flung him away from the fissure. Damn, if he couldn't even kill this Cain, how did he expect to kill the Cain in his time? Abel growled under his breath, as he made his way to Cain's side. Gah! He even went and saved this Cain! Abel glared at Cain, grinding his teeth.

'I just wasn't thinking,' Abel tried convincing himself silently. What's done is done, he couldn't do anything about it, except move on in life.

Once the tunnels stopped shaking, and the floor stopped caving in, Abel approached the edge of the cliff. Looking down he saw what could only be described as a UFO. The large ship was shaped like a tear drop, and very flat. Abel kicked a rock, it hit the ship with a clang. From the sound, it must have been made up of tungsten, but he doubted that.

Tungsten was a strong metal, even stronger then titanium, but it was heavy. Being made up of tungsten would cause the ship to go at a slower pace, if the ship could even be moved at all.

"Wow! Look, look, look!" Cain pointed at the ship, 'amazed' written all over his face. "It's a-a, UFO! Do you think little green alien's will come out of it? Maybe I could keep one!" Cain began shaking Abel.

"I don't know, Cain," Abel said, trying to keep his voice in check. Every molecule wanted to yell at Cain, for being an idiot. "Why don't you go and find out? I'll wait up here."

"Really? Is that really okay?"

"No, it's not!" Abel yelled. Why the hell was Cain acting so childish? He was bound to drive any man insane. "The drop is a good, thousand feet! You'll die if you jump down there, besides what if there's another cave in?"

Abel rolled his eye's at the look of Cain's hurt face. He grabbed his brother's wrist and dragged him along.

XXX

"Where are we going?" Cain asked, for what seemed like the hundredth time.

"Hospital,"Abel growled.

"Why?"

"I need to check on the girls, and tell Tabitha about the ship," Abel answered. After trying to get Cain to shut up, Abel had given up, and found it easier to just answer him. "And you're coming with me because, I still have some questions to answer." Cain opened his mouth to ask another question but Abel beat him to it, "I'm not asking the questions right now because, I'm trying to focus on where I'm stepping! If you haven't noticed I'm not wearing shoes! And I'm mad because, I've had a very, very, very long day!"

"But-"

"We're here already, so save your questions for later."

Abel stomped his way into Lilith's office. She was sitting at her desk, studying a chemical, by the looks of it. Kayson and Tabitha, were all seated around the room. The two of them where chattering while Lilith had her back turned, as she studied some chemical. Abel frowned, where was Seth? Certainly she would be here as well.

"Sir?" Tabitha asked, at the same time Lilith said, "Abel, where have you been?"

"What?" Abel shook his head, surprised by their reaction. "Where's Seth?"

"Seth's in the capital working on some paper work," Lilith answered. "But where have you been all this time? We were worried about you! Tabitha was even going to send out a search party, if you didn't come back soon."

"What are you talking about? I've only been gone for two hours," Abel said, now highly confused.

"It's been more then 48 hours sir," Tabitha said. Her voice sounded so serious, it almost sounded fake. She was looking at him as if he were crazy. Her eyes darted to Cain, as if she wanted to question him, but then they landed back on Abel. He saw her shake her head slightly as if saying, 'there's no way Cain would know anything.'

"It's possible that there could be a rip in the time stream," Kayson suggested, with a shrug. "You are from the past- the past right?"

"Well, what ever the reason- reason, is; I have completed the antidote to your condition- your condition." Lilith tossed him two vials, filled with a clear liquid and two syringes. "I know how much you hate needles, but it needs to enter your blood stream, otherwise it won't work- won't work. It'll probably be painful, and feel as if all your muscles are stretching, so the one with the black cap is a pain killer. I suggest- pain killer. I suggest you take them one hour apart. The two chemical could contraindicate, if injected- injected at the same time."

"Thank you, Lilith, you have no clue how much I appreciate this. By the way are you guys repeating your words, or am I having a bad case of Deja vu?" Abel asked, as he pocketed the items. "In any case," he shook his head, "Cain and I found a space craft in one of the tunnels. Tabitha, I think you should send a team of at least 7 down there to check it out. But we should deal with the-"

"Abel, how did you- you're small!" Lilith, pointed at him in shock. The other's in the room were also looking at him as if he had just sprouted wings or something.

"What are you-" Abel cut off, as his vision blurred, he tried blinking to get his vision to focus. He could see the blurred forms of everyone in the room, it seemed as if they didn't even know he was there. He felt his knees give out from under him. Well, if Kayson was right, then he would be back in his own time in just a few seconds. Abel felt his lips curl up in a sad smile, as he closed his eyes. _'Goodbye Lilith'_

(Present)

The room Abel Nightlord was in, was completely empty. The only thing currently in it, was the belt, Seth, and himself. Abel positioned himself besides Seth. The plan was to jump into the rip caused by the belt, and switch places with the other Abel. It wouldn't be that hard, since two Abel's couldn't exist in the same time. All he needed to do was get to his time.

Seth studied the belt once more, making sure all the settings were correct. She nodded to Abel, who in turn nodded back. She pressed a button. The room turned pitch black.

XXX

Abel Nightroad's vision slowly came into focus. Shaking his head, slightly, he began to stand up. Beside him he could also hear the ruffling of clothes as two more people also picked themselves off the ground.

"Did you press the wrong button?"

What? Abel hadn't even said anything! That voice sounded just like his… okay, well not the voice he had right now, in this shrunken body, but the voice he had before all this started. Abel's eyes followed the sound of the voice. His eyes widened, this just couldn't be right!

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait everyone. After not writing for over a month, I found this challenging... I don't know why... Oh, well it's nice being back home, nothing beats home right? Anyway hope you guys liked this chapter.

I feel like I'm forgetting to say something about this chapter, but I can't remember what... If I remember I'll post it up in my next chapter. Sorry for the inconvenience.


	22. Chapter 22

Abel Nightlord felt his jaw go slack at the sight of the child only a few feet away from him. Seth had told him about Abel Nightroad, and that he had shrunk, and that they were technically the same person, but still… it was weird.

The kid wore a black button up shirt with black pants. He had no foot wear on. His clothes were ragged and looked as if someone had put them through a shredder a couple times. Abel stiffened when the boy shifted, the rags he wore had shifted just enough for him to see a few gashes on the side of his torso. His feet looked burned and there were-

"Close your mouth, you might catch a few flies," the kid's voice broke through his train of thought.

Abel closed his mouth only to open it again, "at least my fly isn't open." The boy frowned as he quickly looked down, "made you look." The kid snorted and rolled his eyes as he stood up.

"Don't get smart with me kid." Hold up: did he just call him 'kid?' Abel was about to point this out and snap at the brat when-

"Damn!" Seth's voice of indignation, made both Abel and kid draw their attention to Seth. She blushed slightly when they looked and explained, "the belt short circuited. I had hoped to get the both of you into the right time, but the belt was only made for a one way trip, not two," Seth shook her head. "And _no_, I did not press the wrong button."

The belt had a few blue sparks going through it and was making a loud beeping noise. Seth, glanced at it, crushing it in her clenched fist until the noise died down. Abel sighed, remembering what Seth had told him if it started beeping. To put things simply all the hard wiring and circuits were burned, making it impossible to fix.

"Well that sucks," the brat sucked in a deep breath of air. "Now I need to deal with this kid and the AX. Why can't life ever be fair?" the kid mumbled. He glanced at Abel with a look of boredom and something else… sorrowful.

"You wouldn't need to deal with the AX if you just came home," Seth said. Although she was smiling, Abel could tell something else was on her mind. Without so much as a glance Seth threw the belt into the corner of the room.

"It can't be helped," the kid started. "You know I can't return to the empire," he shrugged. "Ask the kid if he wants to be the emperor for a while," the brat said jabbing his thumb at Abel.

"Stop calling me kid! If you haven't noticed I'm over a yard taller then you! And I have no intention of becoming this emperor person I've been hearing so much about. If you ask me, it's to much trouble."

"That's great, kid, maybe when you're older I'll actually listen to you."

Abel felt his fists clench. This kid was just to much. The sarcastic attitude, the way he smiled at Seth and spoke to her nicely, even though it was filled with sorrow. There was also the fact he kept glaring at Abel with a look he couldn't describe. Abel felt as if he were being studied under a microscope by the kids frosty blue gaze.

XXX

Being short, really, _really_, sucked. Abel Nightroad found himself trapped under Nightlord's gaze, as the kid starred at him. Abel glared back, wishing he could just use the antidote already and get his body back. Looking up at people took a lot more energy then being the one to look down. Poor Seth, she was trapped in the body of a kid for all her life.

"Can you stop glaring at me brat?" Nightlord hissed, bringing Abel's attention back to the problem of his younger self.

"You're the one who started staring at me first," Abel retorted but didn't take his eyes off Nightlord's wintery blue gaze. One of his hands balled into fists.

Oh, how Abel would love to knock some sense- manners into this kid. Apparently Nightlord was thinking something similar since he was also clenching his fist. Abel sighed forcing himself to stay put, it was against his better judgement to attack first.

"If one of you colored your hair blond, this would almost be like one of those fights you two used to have with _him_," Seth commented. "Of course father Nightroad would need to get his body back and get his hair cut."

"There's no way I'm ever going to color my hair blond!" both Abel's yelled at the same time. They both turned back to each other and started shooting death glares.

"I'll let you two boys talk everything over," Abel heard Seth sigh. It was followed by footsteps as she neared the door. It creaked open. 1.2.3. The door closed. BANG!

Nightlord and Abel both jumped into the air. Abel's jump took him higher as he did a back flip then kicked off Nightlords back, sending him into the ground. Abel landed a few feet away from him.

"What? Can't fight without a few of your troops at your back?" Abel teased, as Nightlord slowly stood up.

"Guess we'll just have to find out!" Nightlord growled.

The taller man ducked and swooped his foot in an arch, tripping Abel. Then he caught Abel by the collar just before he struck the ground, and threw him into the nearest wall. Abel smirked as he somehow managed to get his feet to impact the wall. Kicking off the wall he spiraled straight for Nightlord and delivered a few blows to his torso.

"Had enough yet?" Abel asked. He could feel some of his old wounds beginning to reopen. Right now really wasn't the time to be picking fights.

"Why are you tired already? Those wounds must be holding you back. Did you get them when you tripped over your feet? Oldman?"

"You'll find out for yourself in about nine centuries," Abel shot back. He managed to dodge a punch then threw one of his own before jumping back to avoid being kicked. "Come on kid! I can't even consider this warm up!"

"Don't blame me if you get hurt, geezer."

"Pft, I could care less if I get hurt or not!"

The two of them attacked one another again. Abel grabbed the scruff of Nightlords shirt and kicked him into the ground. Nightlord's reaction was immediate as he used that momentum to push himself off the ground with his hands and kicked Abel. He was sent skidding into the wall.

Abel's hand shot to his pants pocket. He sighed in relief when he felt the vials, undamaged. If they broke, he'd have to stay in the body of a kid.

"Wha-" Abel was caught off guard when Nightlord picked him up from the back of his shirt. "Let me go!" Abel yelped, to surprised to even think to attack. His feet dangled off the ground. Abel felt a hand move his away from his pocket and reach into it.

"What's this?" Nightlord asked. He still held Abel by the scruff of his neck with one hand. His other held one of the vials. He shook the vial a bit.

"Nothing, its none of your business," Abel growled. He tried lashing out at Nightlord but his short legs and arms couldn't reach. Once he got his body back he was so, going to pummel this ignorant brat. Damn short body. How did Seth live with it?

"It must be important with the way you're acting," Nightlord gave Abel an evil smirk. Abel felt his eyes widen and mouth open in an unheard scream as Nightlord nonchalantly tossed it up, over and over again. Please let it be the pain killer and not the actual antidote, Abel found himself praying.

Nightlord reached into Abel's pocket again and this time drew out the 2 syringes and the other vial. Abel saw him tense at the sight of the needle but he didn't drop them, instead he began juggling all four of the small items.

"Nothing, was it?" Nightlord asked again. Abel's eyes were still on the vials as he watched them go up then come back down. Each time gravity caught them he always felt himself hold his breath until Nightlord caught them. "Hey kid you going to tell me, or not?" Nightlord shook Abel and Abel gasped.

"It's the antidote to my 'small' condition! Now could you please stop, and let me down!"

This cocky bastard was going to pay! Damn kid was so childish! Abel hoped he hadn't been like this when he was younger but since the kid was technically him he doubted this. What was the saying? "Opposites attract?" Well if that were true then it would make sense why Abel and this over grown brat didn't like each other.

* * *

**A/N:** I'm still trying to get into the gist of updating everyday, sorry for the wait guys.

In the last chapter I forgot to mention a few things, thanks to Flame I remembered what I had forgotten to mention. The time rip caused everyone who was in the same room as Abel Nightroad to forget about him. That's why Lilith had forgotten about meeting the smaller Abel. The time rift, causing everyone to loose their memories was the only thing I thought of to make everyone forget... Well everyone except Seth... She wasn't in the room at the time and thus she remembers everything about it.

Also, the UFO Abel and Cain found might explained in another story I'm thinking about writing. If I do end up writing it, it'll be super short and no more then 10 chapters, probably shorter. I'll most likely start working on it once I'm done with Link.


	23. Chapter 23

Seth waited outside the room for the two Abels to come out. They still needed to discuss how to get Nightlord back to his time, and now that Nightroad was back she also needed to talk about any other clues he had found about Cain's game. Time was ticking for the queen of Albion, and if they could find the Rosenkreuz, they could hit two birds with one stone.

The door swung open and Abel Nightroad stepped out, he slammed the door behind him. Seth's thoughts were pulled away as she stared at her short older brother. Abel's lips pulled in a soundless snarl, his fangs were beginning to grow. He had his fists clenched at his sides, and glared bullets at anything that came in sight. Nightroad glanced at Seth, and held her gaze for awhile before pulling away and stomping down the hall. Well, that had been weird.

A few seconds later Abel Nightlord waltzed through the door, and- and he was actually smiling. It wasn't one of the fake smiles he had back at the UN or one of the smiles Nightroad would casually throw about, it was a real smile. Never before had Abel smiled like that. Seth was dumbfounded, whatever had happened must have been interesting to say in the least.

Regaining her thoughts Seth broke the silence with a cough. At the sight of her Nightlord's smile disappeared into the usual frown. He cocked an eye brow, as if saying 'what? I can smile too you know?'

"I'd be careful if I were you. Father Nightroad will get you back for whatever you did to him," Seth warned, but there was a slight smile to her face.

Nightlord shrugged, "it's not as if he's going to kill me. By the way, you might want to find him before he retreats to the roof and takes the antidote Lilith gave him. The geezer might fall off from pain, then end up hurting himself more… Or you could let him go and do whatever he want, in fact I prefer it that way." Seth frowned. "I was kidding."

As if on cue Asthe appeared, holding Nightroad by the scruff of his shirt. His feet was a foot above ground and his arms were crossed over his chest. He muttered several curses in different languages, he really did look like a kid. Nightroad glared at Nightlord's feet, as if that alone would set it on fire. He didn't react when Asthe hit him over the head, and started scolding him for not saying hello to Seth and Nightlord.

"Hi Seth, sorry but my manners seem to have gone miss-" Asthe hit Nightroad again. "I think I left them in outer space, along with my shoes-" SMACK, "ouch."

Asthe snarled at him, "that is not how you talk to someone of hire rank then you, brat! You have no clue, how much you worried everyone!" Out of the corner of her eye Seth saw Nightlord put a hand over his mouth, he looked as if her were about to crack a rib.

"It's really okay Asthe, he's not one of my subjects so he can talk to me in whatever way he please." Asthe looked at Seth with wide eyes. She almost looked as if she wanted to argue with her.

"I- I understand. Sorry for my outburst." Asthe bowed to her.

"It's no problem at all. Could you take him to the room next to Esthers?"

"Of course." Asthe turned and swung the small Abel over her shoulder as if he weighed nothing.

(the next day)

Groaning, Abel Nightroad sat up and wiped a bead of sweat away from his face. As his hand moved away from his face, he stared at it, glad he was finally back in his normal body. That had been a very painful twenty four hours, the pain killer had done little to nothing to dull the pain. It had felt as if his bones were on fire and his muscles felt as if they had been stretched far beyond their limit. The injuries he had received back at mars had reopened, however the crusnik had already begun to heal them. Even with the shield to prevent the suns rays from getting into the empire the sun was still stronger here, then it was on mars.

Abel rolled down the sleeves of his shirt and pants. Every movement he made felt like a million needles were poking him. His blood circulation was trying to get back to normal, after getting his body back. Abel kept his hand on the bed for support as he slowly stood up, before removing. Taking a breath, Abel let his face blank out, and stepped out of the room.

Foot steps alerted him to someone approaching. "Hey, Asthe," Abel said with a sheepish grin.

"Tovarish?" Asthe's eyes widened, in surprise before they narrowed in anger. "Did you get your memory back?"

"Um, what are you talking about? I just woke up a few minutes ago and found myself in that room," he jabbed his thumb over his head.

"So you do, remember who you are?" Asthe asked and Abel nodded his head. "Do you remember shrinking?"

"By shrinking do you mean, turning small? Asthe are you okay? I'm quite certain that's not possible," Abel lied.

"You don't remember! Don't think that just because you don't remember anything that you're going to get away with the things you did! The good and bad!" Asthe glared at him. "You know, you made me tell someone that you're my nephew?" she cracked her knuckles, and pushed him so he fell on his butt.

"Asthe, are you okay?" Abel gave her an innocent look mixed with concern. He could tell, by the look in her eye that she was already thinking about everything she could do to him. Abel shivered, as he thought about the others, they would also want to get back at him. Not to mention Leon...

Abel glanced behind her, out of the corner of his eye he could see her also looking in the same direction. Something wasn't right. -_Clap- Clap- Clap- _"Come out, now!" Asthe spoke to the shadows. She activated her sword of Gae Bolg.

"02, you disappoint me," Abel heard Cain's voice. He wasn't talking to him, no, he was talking to Nightlord. "Don't you feel the need to destroy the terrans? The people who caused so much suffering to the four of us?"

"I'm not falling for that Cain!" Nightlords voice traveled down the hall, echoed by the start of a fight

XXX

Isaac took hold of Abel Nightlords hands as he appeared behind him. Abel glared at Cain as he yanked his arm down. Breaking out of Isaacs grip, took minimal to no effort at all. Spinning around he took hold of Isaacs head, bringing it toward his knee. It came within inches away from impact before Cain hit him in his gut causing him to release Isaac.

"Come now 02," Cain said. "Join me! 03 has confused you."

"I'm not falling for that again," Abel snarled. Then as if made up of the shadows themselves, death hunters appeared out of no where. Damn it! He was out numbered.

Abel let loose a seres of attacks on the nearest one. Why wasn't the thing dying? Without thinking Abel's hand shot out, this time his nails had elongated. His claws easily sliced through the monster's thick skin. It fell to the ground with a meaty, _thump. _Great, just… a lot more to go. Abel glared at Cain, as his brother laughed at him evilly. He was forced to look away as another ghoul, used haste to get to him.

Pitiful puppet. Abel easily took hold of its hand, with a dagger and dodged. Swiftly he kicked up the ghouls leg, before it could fall Abel raked his claws over it's back. _'When were they ever going to end?'_ Abel thought, as he maintained a defensive stance, wondering which one was going to be stupid enough to attack next.

What happened next was totally unexpected. The ghoul he had taken down first, got up and growled in a deep throaty voice, it began to turn more into a howl. The other ghouls began forming a loose circle around Abel. 'Ah, so they did have brains,' was the only thing Abel could think as two of the ten attacked, forcing him to dodge only to bump into another. The ghoul began slashing at Abel. He was forced to move backwards, but thanks to the ring of puppets he was in he couldn't back up anymore. Abel felt two strong hands grip both of his harms. The dagger came down, slicing his shoulder. He clenched his teeth, he wouldn't give Cain the satisfactory of seeing him scream.

Abel tried pulling away from the two ghouls holding him down as the others began circling around him, all of them punching, kicking and slashing him. He didn't know how long it continued until they finally pulled back, and Cain stepped forward, grinning at Abel. Abel spat blood in Cain's face.

"Don't worry," Cain chuckled and lifted Abel's chin, forcing him to look at Cain. "I'll give you another chance to prove yourself. We'll create another world, the both of us can rule together." Cain nodded to Isaac. The room disappeared and Abel drifted off to the only heaven available to him: sleep.

XXX

"There's no end to them!" Asthe shouted as she sent yet another death hunter into the wall, with a blast from the sword of Gae Bold. Abel Nightroad, grunted in response as he flipped over one of the creatures, picking up a dagger one of them had dropped earlier.

Nightroad threw the dagger at one of the death hunters skull, before grabbing another. He spun around to stab another one that was just about to take hold of him. Nightroad dodged around the death hunters while Asthe jumped over them. They both attacked the group together.

Soon the Death hunters began to thin out, leaving only three left. A voice that sent chills up Abel's spine spoke, "Don't worry, we'll create another world the both of us can rule together."

"Don't you dare touch him!" Abel watched as Asthe jumped into the room.

"Asthe come back!" Without a second waisted he quickly dealt with the three death hunters before running into the room after Asthe. Isaac had just activated his shield, and Asthe had made it just in. Abel could just make out the form of the younger Abel being held by two Death Hunters. His eyes shot back to Asthe as she took hold of the person nearest her, Isaac. Poof, they disappeared, the remainder of the death hunters dissolved back into the shadows.

Abel gridded his teeth, silently seething. He thought of all the possible places Cain could have set up base. Knowing Cain it would be in one of the nations that didn't see eye to eye with the empire. If nobles went to investigate the nation would take them as spy's. Cain didn't want to be disturbed as he played with his new toy. Abel Nightlord. The damn kid was more trouble then he was worth. And now Asthe was caught up in the middle of it.

XXX

"Ah, good, good, you're awake." Cain's dark figure went in and out of focus.

Nightlord blinked a few times, trying to push away the sleep that was still trying to claim him. As his sleep clouded mind began to wake up, Nightlord began to notice more of the details around himself. Two strong pairs of hands were holding, both of his arms spread apart so his muscles stretched. Anymore and he would dislocate his shoulder. They were in a large room with an indoor pool. Chairs lined one of the walls. Abel's eyes detected movement, and they darted to the ground.

Astharoshe, lay sprawled on the ground. She was slowly regaining her conscience, as she groaned and tried pushing herself into a sitting position.

"What do you want Cain?" Nightlord demanded, his eyes flickered back to Cain, lips raised in a snarl. He pulled against the ghouls' grip, but to no avail. "Why are you doing this? I trusted you, and you went and stabbed me! Not to mention all those lies! What's you're plan Cain?" Abel had meant it to come out as a snarl, but instead it sounded hurt and sorrowful.

* * *

**A/N: **Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! XD


	24. Chapter 24

(A few days later)

Nightlord glared at Cain as his brother leaned over the unconscious form of Astharoshe. "Get away from her," Abel growled hoarsely. He pulled against chains binding him to the walls.

"Up the voltage," Cain said, with a dismissive flick of his wrist to Isaac. He tapped Astharoshe with his shoe lightly as electricity shot down Abel's spine. Nightlord felt his muscles convulse and his body automatically jerked and went rigid. "She really is a pretty thing," Cain commented, as he grabbed Astharoshe's chin.

"And you're crazy," Abel managed to choke out. The chains were still delivering waves of electricity through his body.

"Max the voltage," Cain ordered. "I wonder what her blood tastes like."

Abel shook, uncontrollably as his body started to spasm. He shut his eyes tightly, "nano machine crusnik… 02 power output to 80 percent, activate," Abel gasped. He was loosing conscientiousness.

They opened their crimson eyes and easily pulled their arms away from the wall. The chains snapped, as they arched their back and two wicked back wings erupted from their back. They cracked their neck as they studied 01 with a grim smile planted on their face. They growled, and closed the distance between themselves and 01 in a split second.

Their clawed hand took hold of their brother's head, and pushed him into a wall. **"What's the meaning of this 01? Purposefully, chaining us to that wall?"** They narrowed their eyes till it was only opened by a small slit. They could barely hear the voice of the brat, to whom this body belonged to. Even knowing they had 01 to thank for the full use of the body, something still bothered them.

"Welcome back 02… I'm truly sorry for that, but Abel was unwilling to except you," 01 said, with the usual laughter in his voice. "But forget about that, now that we're together we can rule this world together."

**"Don't play games with us 01,"** they growled. **"You're weaker then before… Don't tell us you wanted to use our body… no, that's not it. You wanted us to help you get the other 02...? I never thought you would steep so low."**

** "I usually wouldn't, but you as you see the lovely 02 and 03, from this time, did some permanent damage to my body. I require a new one,"** 01 explained. He had activated his nano machines to the same level as they had, and had removed their hand from his face.

**"We're not one of your toys, brother." **

**"Of course not. Though need I remind you that you're weaker then me?"** 01 squeezed their hand, until a cracking sound echoed in the room. Pain shot up 02's arm, they lifted their arm to get a look at the bruised hand, unemotionally. It had already started to go numb and heal. They bowed their head in consent. **"I'll take that as a no, then."**

**"You may have strength, but you have no stamina. I'll help you get your body. That is… until Abel starts fighting back. Something I'm sure you have trouble with. I can't see Cain just sitting still, while you try hurting his brother."**

**"I have no clue what you're talking about. I am Cain, as much as he is 01. We have formed a deal of sorts. Our mind has bonded,"** 01 said. He plucked a random white feather, and scrutinized it with a small smirk on his face. **"If you want, we can fuse you to 100 percent, that way the two of you can also make a deal. At the very least it would prevent Abel from fighting back, ."**

**"That seems like an interesting proposition, however if he were to refuse the deal, then it would leave me immobile,"** they reasoned. 02 frowned, their brother had a way of twisting his words to manipulate people. He also tended to act like an idiot, and yet here they were, helping him…

**"Suit yourself,"** 01 shrugged.

"Sir, it's Father Nightroad," Isaac reported. His shadow had already molded into a dark portal.

01 let his wings wither away and his hair fell around his face, as he walked toward Isaac. "Do you feel up to fighting yourself? Or would you like to wait for a while?" 01 asked, his voice no longer distorted.

"**We'll deal with him now,"** 02 said simply. **"Where should I meet you?"**

"I'll have Isaac find you. Be sure not to damage his body-"

**"What should I do if the nano- machines in him take over?" **

"It won't happen, trust me."

XXX

Abel kicked open the door. His eyes scanned the room, he could tell this wasn't going to end well. Already the nano-machines in his body were reacting to the sight of Nightlord. The kid was fully activated to his 80% and by the looks of it he had lost control.

**"We never expected you to show up so soon,"** 02 smirked. He didn't wait for an answer as he took flight and drew out his scythe.

Abel just managed to jump out of the way, as the scythe cut through the area he had just been seconds before. Abel drew out his gun and fired off a round. 02 easily dodged as if it were a walk in the park. With a psychotic grin on his face he swooped forward and managed to dig his claws into Abel's shoulder.

Yelping in shock, Abel quickly grabbed hold of 02's hand and pulled it out. Blood dripped to the floor. Still holding the maniac's wrist Abel fired his gun point blank.

**"You do realize that if you kill us, then you're also going to die, right?"** 02 asked. He didn't look the least bit fazed by the fact he had a bullet hole in his head. Already the bullet was being pushed out and the wound began healing.

"Like I care," Abel snorted, jumping back, as he fired his gun again.

**"Ah, but you should. Nothing is set in stone, even this pathetic vessel might be able to make a different in his time, that you could not do on your own."**

Abel took out his old clip and replaced it with a new one. He wasn't getting anywhere like this! "nano machine crusnik 02 power output to 80 percent, activate," Abel growled. He felt his hair swirl up above his head as his fangs grew over his lip.

Please, don't wake up, Asthe.

**"Do I even want to know why you're attacking me?" **Abel asked, his voice distorted thanks to the crusnik, sounding exactly like 02's voice. The thought that he could even turn into a monster like that, sent shivers up his spine.

**"Because 01 needs a new body. Something you should be aware of since you're the one who put him in such a condition,"** 02 replied. His feet glided over the bloody floor as he shot a punch, aiming it at Abel's face, who easily blocked it.

Fist met fist, knee met knee, scythe met scythe. The two jumped back, both sporting small cuts and bruises. Abel wiped the blood off his mouth while 02 flicked his thumb over the cut on his face. 02 had an evil grin on his face and Abel just looked pissed.

**"What are you going to get out of it? A pat on the back? Let Nightlord go, I want to talk to the idiot,"** Abel growled.

**"At the moment we are Nightlord and 02 all mixed in one." **

**"If the kid knew what you were doing, I can guarantee you wouldn't be controlling his body, as well as you are right now." **

"Brother, I know you're in there somewhere." Both crusniks turned to the door. Seth was standing at the entrance with her arms crossed over her chest, as she glared at 02. "Fight it Abel I know you can!"

**"You think that's going to stop us? 01 never said anything about what to do with you. So I'll just have to get rid of you then,"** 02 commented. He hefted his scythe and charged.

**"Seth, watch out!" **Abel yelled, a warning. He entered haste, be he knew he wasn't going to make it in time.

"Get out of my head!" Nightlord growled, he began slowing down, and Abel's scythe clashed into his. **"It's you who should get out!" **

Seth took a step forward, despite Abel's protest and rested a hand on Nightlord's/ 02's shoulder. "You're not needed here, 02," she said harshly.

**"Don't mess with us, 03,"** 02 replied. His voice was shaking as he fought for control. His scythe had long since, disappeared and his hand was on his head. His eyes darted around, frantically.

"Snap out of it Nightlord," Abel said. Despite the fact that he didn't like himself, he just couldn't bring himself to feel hatred for the kid; so when he spoke his voice sounded kinder then what he wanted it to be.

"Aw, looks like you got your body back, old man," Nightlord chuckled, but it was strained. His wings wilted and his short hair fell around his face. "How's Astharoshe?"

"I swear you are just to much! You always care about other people, when you're in a worse condition! Asthe doesn't even look half as bad as you do!" Seth yelled in frustration. "And you, Father Abel Nightroad! I'm going to tell you the same thing I told this dim wit! Listen to your sister!"

"What sister?" Abel Nightroad asked, playing dumb. He knelt down by Asthe and picked her up, bridal style.

"I swear you were so much more easier to handle when you were small. Why are you acting like an idiot again?" Seth asked, she glanced up at Nightlord who had a smirk on his face.

"Wha- why, I'm not an idiot!" Abel protested, in mock shock. In a much more serious voice he said, "do you guys mind just playing along with me? I don't need people getting any ideas about me, and dimwit here."

"You just called yourself a dimwit."

Abel rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. "You called me- him that first, Seth. Besides you know we can't let anyone know our relation." Abel looked at his younger self, "I have no clue what Seth told you however I hope you know that whatever you tell people will eventually affect you in the future."

"You're weird," Nightlord commented.

"And you need to loosen up," Abel countered.

"Like you're one to talk," Seth chuckled. "So what do you plan on telling lady Caterina?"

"That I have no clue what she's talking about," Abel shook his head. He was dreading the day he would need to go back to the vatican. He still hadn't talked to Esther, who happened to find out that he had regained his memories when he had a small body. Leon was probably going to beat him up, for the prank. Brother Petro would most likely call him a heretic and demand a rematch, if he ever found out it was Abel who had beaten him… Not to mention Asthe had already declared that he was going to pay. And then of course there was Caterina and William.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait, guys. Hopefully the next chapter will come out sooner and be longer.

Reviews are appreciated.


	25. Chapter 25

"So you're telling me, that this idiot saved me?" Asthe asked, pointing a fork in Nightroad's direction.

"I'm not an idiot," Nightroad protested, and at the same time Nightlord said, "yup. Don't worry, I feel bad too, since I got saved by an old man."

"Old man? He's younger then me," Asthe said, confused. She shook her head as she took a sip of 'life water.'

"For a priest he sure tells a lot of lies," Nightlord tried explaining.

"That's against the ten commandments! I can't lie," Nightroad shouted, as if the mere thought of lying was horrible.

When was this flight to the vatican ever going to end? Abel Nightroad, looked away from the duchess and continued stuffing his face. One minute he didn't want to go to the vatican and the next he couldn't wait. Nightroad forced himself not to glare at the silver head devil, otherwise known as his younger version. There was just no way, he could have ever been that bad…

When was this ship going to land?

"I- y-you actually read the bible?" Nightlord sputtered. "What the heck were you thinking?"

"I was thinking about how wonderful, God has been to me," Nightroad said.

"Are you serious? Do you know what the church would do to someone like us? Or have you forgotten? They would rather exterminate us, then acknowledge our existence."

"They've forgotten everything concerning how the world used to be, before even forgot about the Nightlords, until you decided to time travel," Nightroad sighed. "Now, Esther and Leon, know about the Nightlords."

"Why does it seem like you two are talking about something, only the two of you understand?" questioned Asthe.

"Did it really seem that way? I'm just stating facts that the professor drilled into my head," Abel laughed and rubbed the back of his head. He hoped Asthe wouldn't catch onto the fact, he was lying through his teeth.

"Why don't I believe you?" Asthe asked.

"Because he's an idiot."

"Am not!"

Are too!"

"You two seem like brothers," Asthe commented.

"Like I would want to be related to a kid/ geezer like him!" the two Abels yelled at the same time. As the last word slipped out of their mouth they turned to each other and started a glaring contest.

"You sure act like it," Asthe said. She was only adding fuel to the fire. "You guys even eat the same amount," she added and eyed their plate as if to make her point. Okay, Nightlord was eating less then Nightroad, but it was still a lot for the average person. "Even your hair and eye color is the same. I bet you two could pass as twin if-"

"You are not cutting my hair," Nightroad grumbled.

"Why? Want to look as feminine as possible?" Nightlord teased.

"If you weren't-"

"Okay, enough you two," Seth broke in. Stopping Nightroad from saying something he probably would have regretted.

"But he started it!" they yelled in unison.

"Don't talk to the empress like that!" Asthe scolded and kicked Nightroad from under the table.

"Ouch, would you please stop hitting me all the time?" Nightroad asked. "He said it too you know."

"First off that was a kick, secondly he's the emperor… or will be," Asthe responded, matter of factly. "You can't expect me to scold him."

"But I didn't even do anything," Nightroad whined. "Seth said I was one of her friends, not one of her people-"

"You're acting awfully familiar with her, for someone who lost their memory," Asthe stated.

Nightroad began sputtering nonsense, as he tried to get some intelligent words out, but found that he couldn't without reveling that Seth was his sister. "Well, we did talk while we were looking for you two," Abel managed to spit out. He shot a quick glare at Nightlord, telling him, silently, to stop his snickering.

"Sure Tovarish, I'll give you that one," Asthe said, but she still had a disbelieving look on her face. "By the way," she turned to Nightlord. "Why is it, that after all this time you're finally smiling, but it's only when this idiot is getting scolded?"

"No reason," Nightlord shrugged. His smile vanished, to be replaced by a look of boredom.

"And here I thought we had finally gotten you to loosen up a bit," Asthe sighed. "Smiling suits you. Just as long as you don't smile like that idiot. If you did that, I don't think I would be able to tell the difference between you two."

"Good luck with that. It'll take about another 9 centuries for him to shape up," Nightroad said in a joking tone. Glad that the conversation had shifted to a different topic… or so he thought. "Ouch!" Abel yelped.

"Don't think I've forgotten about you," Asthe threatened. She kicked him under the table again, to get her point across.

"Asthe, why are you picking on me? I'm just a simple priest, trying to enjoy the last days of my vacation before I return to my boss," Abel pouted, sticking out his bottom lip, and giving her what he hoped was a 'puppy look.'

"Simple priest, as if. Last time I checked priest don't see invisible wires that not even vampires could see," Asthe barked.

"They also don't pull pranks on other priests," Esther added from where she sat with the kids. There goes hoping she had forgotten about that… Leon, was going to kill him!

"I have no clue what you're talking about," Nightroad frowned.

"Regular priests-"

"Abel Nightlord!" Seth yelled, causing both Abel's to look in her direction. She gave Nightlord a silent warning.

"Fine, fine," Nightlord sighed, giving in. He rolled his eyes, and picked up his plates. Taking them into the small kitchen. 'Regular priests aren't blood sucking crusniks,' he thought to himself.

"Brat," Abel muttered before following after him.

"I swear… those two are just to much," Seth shook her head. "My dearest brother wouldn't be eating so much if he just listened to me and drank some blood. Father Nightroad, could have-"

"I could what?" Nightroad asked. Choosing then to reappear.

"Oh nothing. I was just thinking you could see a doctor for your strange eating habits," Seth said with a slight chuckle.

"He needs a lot more then just an eating expert. He needs to see a psychiatrist," Nightlord said, all so bluntly.

"And you need to go see a counselor. If you like, I could set up an appointment with the professor, or perhaps Caterina…" Abel wondered out loud. "Hmm, actually I think Caterina would be a much better choice, since she doesn't stray to far from the topic, unlike how William starts talking about his latest experiments…"

"No thanks old man. As much as I would enjoy having a cup of tea with the rest of you geezers, the answer is, no."

"You do know that you're ten years older then me, right?"

Nightlord snorted in response, as he shot Nightroad a few dirty looks. The girls in the room watched as the two Abels had a starring contest.

"I knew it was to much to hope for, that these two would get along well…" Seth sighed. "Actually I hoped they would get along like brothers… they seem to have the arguing part down, but aren't brothers also supposed to love each other?"

"I don't want him as a brother!" Nightroad yelled, and at the same time Nightlord said, "I have one to many." Then together they said, "I don't think I could live with another look alike."


	26. Chapter 26

"Thank you, oh mighty and powerful Lord. Thank you God! I thought I was going to die in that den of lions!" Nightroad said as the ship finally landed in vatican territory. He couldn't wait until the doors finally opened so he could jump out and get away from Asthe and the silver haired devil.

In the past four days Asthe had nit picked at every single 'sinful act' he had committed while he was small. She said it was his duty to make up for his mistakes, as a priest, so she had him cleaning the entire ship. She also added a few things, that Abel knew for certain he didn't do, but he didn't say anything since he wasn't supposed to remember.

On his off time, from being Asthe's personal janitor, Nightroad had to deal with Nightlord's constant teasing and bickering. If it weren't for their audience he would have taught the little brat a lesson.

"Out of the frying pan and into the oven!" Nightlord cheered from behind Nightroad. Gah, at this point Nightroad was debating on whether to take the emergency hatch. Hurry up and open the door already! "Don't worry I'll give Astharoshe a list of some other things you could do, once you come back."

"Seth!" Nightroad called. He waited for his sister to round the corner. She gave him a questioning look. He would probably get yelled at for this later… but… "Remember your doll you had when you were little? The one Lilith gave you?"

"You mean the one that looked like a dog, even though Cain said it was a bear?" Seth asked, and Nightroad nodded. "What about it?"

"Remember how it went missing and then the next day you found stuffing in the room, _Cain_ and I shared?" Abel asked. There was a glint of understanding of where this conversation was going in Seth's eyes, so he continued. "Well, you didn't loose it. He actually stole it," Nightroad said and pointed to Nightlord.

"You did what?" Seth snarled glaring at the two Abels.

"And remember how I put the blame on Cain?"

"What do you think you're doing?" Nightlord asked. He couldn't be serious could he? He would get busted too, if he dared tell Seth.

"You broke my Ms. Green?" Seth rounded on Nightlord.

"What? No, I didn't!" Nightlord gasped and took a step back. "Why are you asking me anyway? He's your brother from this time, not me!"

"Do you know how much I liked that doll?" Seth screamed. She advanced on Nightlord with her hands clenched. Her eyes became tinted with red. Though whether it was because she was on the verge of crying or because she was mad, Nightroad didn't know. "Abel!" Seth took off after Nightlord. A few seconds later the sound of Seth's fists hitting the brat could be heard down the hall.

Sweat, sweat revenge.

Nightroad smiled to himself, as the muffled screams of, 'Ouch,' and, 'that hurt, please stops,' traveled back to him. The hatch opened a second later, and the intercom turned on, telling all the passengers it was safe to load off the ship. Sighing Abel exited the ship and made his way to Caterina's office.

"Come in, Abel," Caterina called, even though he hadn't knocked yet. The blond haired beauty, looked up from her paper work when Abel entered. As usually he headed to his seat by the window. "I'm increasing your paper work," she said, causing Abel to look up at her.

"Wha- you can't be serious! How is that fair?" Abel demanded.

"You finally got your body back, and you proved to me that you're an exceptional politician," Caterina explained. "Besides I'm only making good on my words. What type of boss would I be if I continued to let you do whatever you please?"

"The nice type…"

"Abel we both know you're not an idiot, or klutz. I already told you, to act yourself," Caterina sighed. "So, what did you find at Londinium?" she asked, going straight to the point. She never did enjoy beating around the bush.

"Is it to late to tell you that I don't remember anything that happened while I was small?" Abel questioned. Caterina shot him a steely look and raised an eyebrow. If he thought he could get away with lying to her, he had another thing coming. "I found nothing," Abel admitted with a sigh. "It was a trap, set up by the Rosenkreuz. Anyway, please don't tell anyone that I remember what happened when I shrunk. I fear that I might have upset a few people, and I don't want to answer any unnecessary questions."

"And the paper work?"

"I'll do them," Abel grunted.

"And?"

"I won't pretend to sleep in your meetings."

"And?"

"Caterina, I'm not a kid. I know what I can and can't do," Abel sighed. He shot Caterina a playful look and rolled his eyes. "Of course it never hurts to act like a klutz though!"

"You do know that you don't need to obey the orders of the last pope, anymore right?"

"I act like this because its fun to see how different people react. Besides…" Abel shook his head. "Anyway, I'm sending myself on a self assigned mission, so I might not be around for the next weeks." At Caterina's questioning look, he continued, "the Rosenkreuz seems to have taken interest in a… methuselah from the empire. The empress wants me to guard him, while we continue searching for their base."

"I'll extend the date for your last mission then," Caterina nodded, making a small note to do so on a blank sheet of paper. "Who is he?"

"A noble of the empire," Abel responded a little to quickly.

Caterina looked up at him. "What aren't you telling me, Abel?"

"What do you mean?" Abel questioned in mock shock, falling back on his goof act. "I'm shocked that you would think I'm withholding information from you!"

"I'm sending Gun-Slinger with you," Caterina stated with a sigh.

"What? No! He's needed here!" Abel shouted. If Tres came he would find out that the Nightlord brat was Abel from the past and ruin everything. Not only would Caterina find out, but Asthe as well. Not to mention the kids and Esther… and the whole vatican!

"I think not. Almost all of the AX is here in Rome, not to mention my brothers inquisition. One member going on a mission, won't be missed," Caterina stated. She truly didn't understand why, Abel was protesting. Gunslinger was one of their better members, and could help with finding the hideout. He was perfect for the mission, seeing as he was a machine and could do things that normal people couldn't.

"What about Leon? Why can't Leon come instead?" Abel blurted. He remembered that Leon was with them before Abel went to Londinium, meaning that he must have met the brat already.

"Leon? He won't be any help in this mission," Caterina scowled.

"Well you see, the… Duke, is very picky about who he hangs around with. Since he already met Leon, it shouldn't be to much of a problem," Abel lied.

"Very well," Caterina consented. If she didn't have a meeting to get ready for she would have continued to argue her point. "Did you come here for anything else?" she sighed and put a hand to her head, trying to ward off her headache.

Abel walked to Caterina's desk, taking out a folder as he did so. "This my report of my activities for the last month, as well as some notes.

Caterina took it from him with a nod, and began flipping through it. Her eyes skillfully scanned the paper, they landed on the notes Abel had found. "Very well, I'll have these filed and, I'll send Leon to the ship."

XXX

Leon entered the empires ship, after being ordered to take care of another mission for her evidence. He was greeted by the hot chick, Asthe, and the chick in training, Seth. Leon smirked to himself when Asthe showed him to his room. If his inmates from jail, saw how he was living it up, they would be jealous. He was even best friends with the emperor to be! The kid might not want to admit it, but Leon knew… It was just to bad, Four Eyes was also coming.

Nightroad walked into the ship after Leon and made his way into the large family area where, Esther and the kids would be. He was thankful that Caterina didn't question him to much. For once the higher powers were sided with him. Hopefully it would stay like that until he could get rid of Nightlord.

"Abel Nightroad, you bumbling priest!" Kate screeched as she appeared next to Abel, pointing a finger in his face. "I'll have you know that you have a lot to say during confessionals, you brat! Do you know how much trouble you caused me?"

"H-hi there, sister Kate," Abel said with a sheepish grin, looking down at the finger in his face as if it were a knife. "Can I help you with something?" What was she doing here?

"You!" Kate screeched, causing Abel to flinch. He really wanted to cover his ears. Kate's face turned red as she continued yelling at him. Abel said nothing, deciding it would be best if she got all her frustration out first. When the ship's engine roared to life, Kate finally calmed down, and stuck her finger in his chest, "gah! Why am I even talking to you? Everything I say goes in one ear and out the other!" Kate shook her head, and disappeared from site. She was probably going back to the professor.

"Well that could have gone better," Nightroad sighed.

Shaking his head he turned his attention to his book. Flipping through the pages that were almost as old as him. It was amazing that the book hadn't turned to dust yet.

Nightroad put his notes on the small coffee table, spreading them out. His eyes landed on the notes the orden had given him. Picking up the original copy, Abel lifted the paper to the light. The chances of it holding a hidden message were small but still possible.

Abel blinked when the light shined through certain areas of the paper. He could make out a few lines and words. Frowning Abel picked up the third note he had found and pressed them together, then lifted them toward the light. He could make out more of what it was showing, but not the whole thing. There were still a few places he coulnd't make out, and unlike certain parts of the paper, it didn't show detail in whatever it was, trying to portray. From what he could see, it looked like a blue print.

The words that had been written on the other side of of the paper couldn't be seen from the back side, when he held it up to the light.

Looking at the last note Abel reread it. 'Game, huh?' Abel sighed. Cain did say they needed to complete a game, and he didn't think it was the game he had gotten involved with, on mars. If he wanted to save the queen, he would need to find the next clue… but the last clue led him to Londinium, and it sent him to the past. So did that mean that the next clue was in Londinium?

Abel pocketed his small book, and the loose papers. Holding the two notes that he had, he headed for Seth's room. He needed to ask his sister what she thought about his idea.


	27. Chapter 27

(A few days later in Londinium)

The outside world was beautiful. The soft breeze cooled his body and whipped his silver hair across his face. The silvery clouds glided with the breeze in the sky. The city was bustling with people all rushing to get to where they needed to be as they tried to get the best deal in the street market. The birds happily sang their morning songs of joy.

So why was it that they were at the harbor? Nightlord stared at the bluish green waters that reflected his image, trying to see how deep it was. Why couldn't they just enjoy the sights the city had to offer?

Why did it have to be swimming? And it wasn't just swimming, it was diving! That meant putting his head under water. It was hard enough just floating in it and now they needed to go down. If men were meant to swim they would have been born with gills and fins!

Why couldn't people see the ocean for what it really was? It was a monstrous creature that swallows people and then spits them out once they seize their movements. The deep shadows would even take out boats if it wanted to, and send them into it's deep depths, never to return or be seen again. It would rip every moving thing in it's path, to shreds.

Nightlord had enough swimming to last him the rest of his life time. Especially after he woke up in this very lake, just a month ago. That hadn't been fun.

"I hate swimming," his own voice mumbled next to him. It was coming from Nightroad.

'If you hate it so much then why did you suggest we come back here, idiot?' Nightlord thought to himself.

"Well, in you go tovarish," Astharoshe shoved the man next to him into the water. Nightroad yelped in surprise as he fell into the water. Nightlord backed away from the edge, thankful that she didn't push him in. "So how's the water?" she asked.

"It's wet," Nightroad answered, but he didn't make any move to get out.

"Is that anger I feel coming off of you? I never would have guess that a priest would get angered by someone pushing them into a lake," Astharoshe teased. "Isn't water supposed to be pure?"

"I'm not mad!" Nightroad yelped. "I just don't enjoy swimming."

"That's coming from the man that said: 'I don't know how to swim,' when we first met," Esther said.

"Did I really say that?" Nightroad asked, trying to play dumb. How did he manage staying in there for that long?

"I think I'll jump in too. It'll be faster if we have more people. The lake is big, after all," Seth said. She entered a divers form and dived into the water before Astharoshe could even mutter a protest. Her small head popped up next to Nightroad's a second later. "You coming Abel?" she turned to Nightlord.

"If I have to suffer, then you do too!" Nightroad growled. He somehow managed to climb onto the wooden platform and grab him by his foot.

"No wait!" Nightlord protested, trying to kick his hand away. He gasped for air as he felt his body sliding in to the water. His head erupted from the water and he made a grab for the platform, trying to get away.

"Come on kid, stop being a scaredy cat," Nightroad whispered into his ear. Nightroad grabbed his wrist and began pulling him away.

"I hate you," Nightlord hissed.

"Don't worry, I hate you too," Nightroad responded.

"How can you hate yourself?" Seth asked, interrupting their conversation.

"He isn't me," the two Abel's said at the same time.

Nightroad sighed and released Nightlord. They were already far away from land, and Nightlord had given up on trying to get out. He would just have to deal with it. Even if he did try getting away, he wouldn't be able to since Nightroad was stronger then him. Stupid old man.

"What are we looking for anyway?" Nightlord asked, glaring at Nightroad.

"A clear glass capsule," Nightroad answered, taking off his glasses and pocketing them. "It's what made me go back in time."

"Could I get back to my time, using it?"

"Not without a member of the orden there to activate it," Nightroad sighed, "it needs fingerprints and code to open."

After the first hour of searching, those on shore had called to them and signaled that they were heading back to the ship. Nightlord had wanted to follow them, but of course the dumb idiot (with his face) had forced him into staying. They then got into a fight and even drew blood. (Attracting great white sharks, that ate them alive. Okay, so that didn't happen. If it did then it would be the end of the story, since there can't be a story if the main character dies. What really happened was they had fought and sharks did come. However one of them had burn marks on it's side, in the shape of words.)

"Abel, you're an idiot!" Seth screamed, when she saw the incoming sharks. Drawing their attention to her. Their eyes followed hers, and landed on the sharks. Damn it! "If you try hurting yourself again, I swear, I'll personally take care of you! The both of you!"

"I'm not an idiot, and I'm not hurting myself," Nightlord answered back.

"If I was hurting myself then I would have cuts where I hit this kid," Nightroad ended his train of thought.

"I'm not a kid, old man!"

"Yeah, well I'm not an old man either, brat!"

"Geezer!"

"Delinquent!"

"Decrepit old man!"

"Hah, I'm stronger then you are!"

"Yeah? Because I remember beating you up fairly well, when we first met, shorty!"

"God! How does Lilith deal with you?" Nightroad yelled.

"Same way she did with you!" Nightlord answered back.

"I wasn't half as bad as you are!"

"As if! You are me, you cripple!"

"There's no way in hell, you're me! And I'm not crippled! Do I look like I have broken bones to you?"

"Could of tricked me with the way you keep stumbling and falling about."

"Want me to permanently, glue these glasses to your head?" Nightroad threatened.

"Cut it out!" Seth broke in. She held onto a shark and drew her dagger across it's gut. "I could really use some help here. Not that you guys will be any help, considering you've never battled in the pool back at in the UN. Since you hate water."

Nightlord glared at Nightroad, wishing he had some kind of heat vision to burn the fool. Nightroad was the first one to break eye contact, letting Nightlord win staring contest. He darted to the closest shark and flipped it onto it's back, immobilizing it, then raked his claws across it. Shark blood, turned the blue waters crimson, and caused the other sharks to go after the one he had just taken care of. Nightlord glanced at Seth, to make sure she was okay, before a shark came after him. Quick as a flash, Nightlord easily punched it in the eyes, then poked his fingers into it's gill, killing it.

By the time he was done, Nightroad had already taken down the shark that had the weird burn marks.

"I suggest we take it up to shore, to get a better look at it," Seth said. She looked around at the mess they had made. "We should also get the other carcasses as well. We don't want to attract any more sharks, they'll cause trouble for the fishermen."

"Sure," Nightroad sighed, swimming toward the nearest carcass. "But the sharks were just a ploy. The Rosenkreuz sent the sharks to buy them more time. The note on this shark, said it bluntly," he said and looked at the sharks side. " 'I'm Buying time by sending these sharks since I know how much you love to swim. It's impossible to look for the time tube in bloody waters.'" Nightroad read the note. "'Oh I also destroyed the tube so don't bother looking for it. The next note is in this shark. Have a bloody fun time.'"

"If you two hadn't started fighting, this wouldn't have happened!" Seth scolded, causing both men to flinch as their ears rang. She swam and gathered two of the bodies, before heading back to shore. Leaving the Abels to grab the rest.

They both shivered as they watched her retreating form, both thinking about how scary Seth had become over the years, little sister or not.

"Here," Nightroad said, passing three of the sharks to Nightlord. Their added weight caused Nightlord to sink a little. Nightroad put his glasses on and looked over the rims as he followed after Seth. Pulling five sharks behind him. He didn't seem bothered by their weight at all.

On their way to shore Nightroad put his arm down the sharks mouth. The sharp teeth drawing a little blood, but it cuts healed fast enough. Closing his hand around something slick and hard, Nightroad pulled it out. It was a small clear tube with a note rolled up in it.

Once the sharks were lined up on the paved ground, a few of the fishermen, gathered around to look at their catch. They all whispered to each other, and one man said he had actually seen them fight the sharks, and soon everyone was also saying how they had seen the fight. All of them were talking badly about them though, and how they had scared away the fish.

"We're terribly sorry about blooding the waters," Nightroad gave the men a sheepish grin and scratched the back of his head. "But you guys can take a shark home. I hear shark fins catch a good price, and you can make jewelry out of their teeth." This caused all of them to brighten up, and they all grabbed a shark to get it measured. A few of them took out their radios and called people, talking about having shark fin soup. It sounded gross.


	28. Chapter 28

Seth slapped herself as she listened to the Abels constant bickering. They had just returned to the ship and already they were at each others neck. It was worse then when he argued with Cain. They hadn't started fighting seriously yet, but being as they both had the crusnik nano machines, it would be a very destructive battle if they ever decided to go all out. At this point she was just about ready to tell everyone that they were the same person to at least shut the older one up.

One of the boys suddenly made a snappy retort which was quickly followed up by another.

Aghhhh! Abel Nightroad was ten years older then her and here he was, arguing with someone that wasn't even half his age! And here was this younger version of Abel who constantly- Gah! Boys were so- agh! Seth screamed to herself. Her thoughts were echoed by a few curses coming from the priest Abel, which resulted in a long stream of curses from Nightlord. What was this? A swearing contest?

"I thought priests weren't supposed to swear!" Nightlord growled, apparently out of breath.

"It's not swearing. It's creative gibberish," Nightroad growled back.

"As if! Those are ancient languages you moron. Even if its gibberish to these humans it was still written in dictionaries!"

"I thought you said you couldn't speak any ancient languages," Asthe butted in. She crossed her arms over her chest as she glared at Nightroad, demanding an explanation.

"When did I say that? I learned a little from the university of Rome," Nightroad grinned sheepishly.

"I might not be an expert in universities but I'm pretty sure Rome never taught any dead languages," Leon said. His eyebrows knit together as he thought on this.

"Swearing and lying. Wow, you must be the worst priest ever."

Seth groaned as they again went into a full blown swear war. They even had the audacity to describe a few things she would rather not have thought or known about. The three other people in the room gapped at the two of them as they spoke in languages they never heard before, along with a few that they recognized but seemed to be a different version.

"That's not even a word! You just put two words together!"

"Oh, that's very enlightening! Don't you think I know that, mentard?"

"Congrats, you just made another word. Are you planing to write a book out of them?" Nightroad said sarcastically.

"Would you two shut up?" Seth roared. She stomped up to her older and older younger brother. "You're acting like a child! You're what? 976 years old?" She growled at Nightroad then turned her hateful gaze on Nightlord. "And you, stop provoking him! Do you know how silly the two of you look? For crying out loud, you're arguing with yourself!"

Both Abels stopped mid sentence at Seth's rant. Seth had never gotten that mad before, and even when she did get mad it was never toward them. Not even Lilith got that mad.

"But he's not me," they both said in unison, despite their similar thoughts on Seth's anger issues.

"He wears glasses," Nightlord added as Nightroad said, "his hair is short."

"Fine, you want to play like that? Why don't we take those dumb glasses off and cut your hair, Father Nightroad. I'm sure the two of you will both be _enlightened_ as to how similar the two of you are."

"Why do I need to all that while he doesn't need to do anything? Why can't we put him in a wig and make him wear glasses?" Nightroad questioned.

Huffing, Seth reached over the table and grabbed Nightroad's glasses, then placed them firmly on Nightlord's nose. Her actions were followed by a few gasps from those in the room as they saw more of the similarities between the two. But she wasn't aiming for their spectators to notice the similarities, she was aiming for the two Abels.

"Do I need to have you guys switch clothing as well?" Seth asked. She swatting away Nightlord's hand when he tried pulling the glasses away.

They both glared at each other, both of them squinting. Nightroad, because he was not supposed to have good eye sight, and Nightlord because he couldn't see through the thick glass.

"Now he's just a big blur," they both bit out, bitterly. One of them lying while the other was telling the truth.

"You two really look alike," Esther commented. "And you even seem alike, personality wise… or at least when the two of you are together the two of you seem almost the same."

"Want to know our secret?" Nightlord asked, finally managing to take off the glasses. Nightroad opened his mouth and was ready to spring at him if he dared tell the truth. But then he closed it, deciding the people in the room were never going to believe him, since Nightlord was royalty and he obviously wasn't. After all, what kind of emperor of the methuselah empire would become a priest? "He's actually my grandson, and we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things," he gave them a wide grin.

"But you never had kids," Asthe said, quickly finding the fault in his lie.

"Now you're the one who's lying," Nightroad chided. "The truth is I'm really the older version of him, and for some reason I just can't seem to get along with my younger self."

His answer caused everyone except the crusniks to burst out laughing. Clutching his stomach, Leon managed a choked response. "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth, Four-eyes."

"There's no way the two of you are the same person!" Asthe laughed, for once loosing all of her usual regal manners. "If you were I don't think you would be arguing with him 24/7." Wiping a tear away she asked, "so if you really are the first and only emperor then why are you with the vatican?"

"To force peace between the humans and methuselah," Nightlord answered, also getting in on the act. Seth found herself rolling her eyes. They were actually working together on telling the truth, but in a way that would make the other's think they were lying.

"No, actually it was because I couldn't handle Seth becoming so much like Lillith," Nightroad said, and the two Abel shared a rare laugh, while Asthe growled at Nightroad for talking poorly about Seth. Although it was complement to Seth, to Asthe it seemed like a negative comment because of the way Nightroad had come across saying it, and also because she didn't know who Lilith was.

"Okay, prove it to me by activating my spear," Asthe challenged, with smirk. She passed him the Sword of Gae Bolg. A quick frown crossed Nightroad face as he took the rod.

"Sure no problem. Could you do the honors?" Nightroad asked. He extending the handle of the rod so both he and Nightlord could touch it. As soon as Nightlord's fingers touched it he activated it.

"That's cheating," Asthe huffed.

"What's wrong with me asking my younger self for help?" Nightroad countered.

Seth sighed. At least they were getting along… for now. "Okay now can we please get back to business?" Both Abel's gave her a questioning look. "The note." Seth resisted the urge the yell.

"Oh that. It wasn't a really a note," Nightlord yawned.

"It was part of the blueprints though," Nightroad said.

"Yeah, It seems as though Cain's to lazy to make his own activation key for a machine he's trying to create… Actually he lost his wallet."

"Apparently we need to build it to destroy the death machine he's making, otherwise it's going to activating and attack a few countries.

"We just need to make sure Cain doesn't get his hands on it, once we build it. Otherwise he'll be able to activate his machine."

"Oh and, Cain wants us to attend the Londinium festival tomorrow," Nightroad ended.

"How do you know that?" Esther asked.

"Because the note said to stick around, and the only reason why any tourist would want to stick around after seeing the sights of Albion, is to watch a festival," Nightroad answered.

And despite all their arguing they still managed to talk to each other about the notes. That was just weird, Seth sighed. They even had everything planned out, by the looks of it.

"Can I have my glasses back now?" Nightroad asked, opening his hand.

"I don't know how you can see through those," Nightlord huffed as he tossed them to Nightroad, who slipped them on.

"They aren't that bad once you get used to them," Nightroad said with a shrug.

"One minute you're yelling and the next you two are talking together like old friends," Leon commented.

"Like we said, we're the same person," they both said in a serious tone. "Just kidding," they chuckled.

"I would rather die then be related to him, let alone being the same person," Nightlord said as Nightroad just nodded in agreement.

Getting up, Nightroad said, "Lets go scope out the city before the festival tomorrow." Nodding, Nightlord got up and followed him out of the ship.

"I'm confused," Esther admitted. "I've never seen father Nightroad act that way before. He's never argued with anyone before, and now he's arguing with Nightlord, whose an emperor."

"We all are, Senorita," Leon said, swinging an arm over her slender shoulders. "And I still haven't gotten him back for pranking me."

A wicked grin crossed Asthe's face as she and Leon shared a look. Seth had a small smirk on her face, but she had no intention of helping the man with his revenge on her brother… but that didn't mean she was going to tell him. Esther on the other hand, was the only one who actually looked worried for Nightroad.

(Next day)

"Find anything?" Nightroad whispered. He came up behind another man and reached into his pocket, drawing out his wallet. After making sure nothing of importance was in it, he carefully slipped it back into the man's pocket.

"Just cash, cash, and more cash," Nightlord yawned. "I really don't think this is what Cain meant when he said he lost his wallet." He swiftly snatched a wallet from someone who was running past him, flipped through it, then put it back before the person noticed it was missing.

Back at the UN, Cain was always in charge of their money. However he was a very careless treasurer since he constantly lost his wallet and thus Abel had brought it upon himself to replace what his brother had lost or forgotten by stealing from other people. The word 'money' or 'wallet' coming from Cain's mouth, usually meant, 'Abel, I need you to get some cash for us.'

They both sighed as a small parade marched down the main street. Albion's anthem was being blasted through the speakers as people began to break out dancing and singing. All the shops that were open began putting up 'sale' signs. Both Abel weaved their way in and out of the crowd. The Methuselah, crusnik and two other humans quietly followed behind them but they weren't as swift as the two Abel's.

The two of them glanced at each other before both turning in opposite directions.

"You're almost too good at that," Asthe hissed from her position behind Nightroad, who just nodded in response. "Are you sure you're going to find the next clue by pickpocketing?" again Abel nodded as nudged his way through the crowd. "Are you even listening to me?"

Nightroad nodded again and put a hand to his radio. "Find-"

"Anything?" an irritated voice interrupted. Nightroad could almost see the face Nightlord was making right now. "No, I didn't. How many more times are you going to ask? Each time is going to be the same. My answer is "NO!" If I find something I'll call you!" The line went silent, indicating he had turned off his radio.

Nightroad resisted the urge to growl since Asthe was staring at him, but for some reason she had a smirk on her face. "What? Do I have something on my face," he asked, even though he was sure that wasn't the case, but he wiped it anyway.

"Oh, it's nothing tovarish," Asthe responded. Using the same technique Abel had used, she began snatching people's wallets. He was so going to get it once they returned to ship. The traps she and Leon had set up were genius.

As they walked through the crowd something attracted Nightroad's eye. Looking up, he hissed under his breath. What the hell did that kid think he was doing? '_I'll call you_ he says. So, something which causes him to activate the crusnik and started flying in front of the public isn't worth reporting to me?' Nightroad put the items he was holding back where they belonged and headed in the direction Nightlord had gone.

Asthe grabbed him by the wrist.

"Where are you going? We still haven't gone through these people yet," she jabbed a thumb at the small cluster of people.

"Bathroom," Nightroad quickly answered. He tugged his wrist from Asthe's grip and made his way through the crowd. Behind him, he could hear the light tapping of Asthe's foot steps as she followed him, yelling at him that he was going the wrong way.

Nightroad made a sharp turn, hoping Asthe would loose track of him. Entering the dark ally way he slipped off his outer cassock. Muttered his ritual words, "crusnik 02 power out put to 80% activate." Black wings unfurled from his back and he took flight.

Following Nightlord's scent. He made sure to stay behind the buildings so those watching the parade wouldn't see him. Halfway across the city Abel noticed a figure dressed in green followed by a man in black and a female in white. Slowing his pace, Nightroad allowed them to pass him before landing and deactivating the crusnik.

"Where have you been?" Leon panted when he noticed Nightroad following them.

"Trying to catch up with you guys. Let me guess, Nightlord took off?"

Leon grunted in response as the four of them rounded a corner. "He started chasing someone and we lost him but then Seth told us to follow her," Leon updated.

Lengthening his short strides, Nightroad easily passed the humans and caught up with Seth. As they neared the place Nightlord had landed a strange feeling blanketed Nightroad. Something was wrong, he could just feel it. But somehow it felt good at the same time, relaxed even, it almost made him feel like he was drunk… if you call feeling drunk good, that is.

Nightroad stumbled over his own feet, as he felt his own strength being sapped from him. When he jumped up he felt normal, his strength was back but for some reason his hands had become slightly paler then they should have been, and he could have sworn he had suddenly gained x-ray vision.

Catching up to Seth, out of breath, Nighroad huffed, "Nightlord's in danger."

* * *

**A/N:** I haven't ended a chapter with a cliffhanger in such a long time.

R&R


	29. Chapter 29

"Abel, I'm sorry but, you were an idiot when you were younger," Seth sighed to Nightroad. He could barely run without everything becoming blurry and getting lightheaded, as though he were dehydrated. It was more of a drunken feeling. In his state, entering haste was a far fetched dream.

He really couldn't understand why anyone would want to feel like this. "I don't deny that one bit," Nightroad said. "I have half a-a mind to let the kid, die," he panted. Seth glared at her brother, if it weren't for his pathetic state, she would have knocked some sense into him. Abel stumbled over a rock and was barely able to catch himself.

"Are you okay? Maybe you should just wait here," Seth said. She helped Abel get up and led him to a bench.

"I'm fine. Just feeling a bit drunk-"

"Abel we don't get drunk. We can drink, pretend to be drunk, but we still wouldn't be truly drunk," Seth said, worry laced in her voice.

"Father Nightroad?" Esther and Leon had finally caught up to them. "You look horrible! What happ - ened" Esther's eyes widened some as she stared at his face. Seth looked back at her brother and noticed he had become a little transparent. "Does this have something to do with being what you are?" Esther whispered, finally seeming able to regain her voice.

"Umm," Nightroad looked to Seth for help, but she was more concerned with getting his gloves on his hands and putting his hood up.

"God, Four-eyes! This is one of William's experiments isn't it?" Leon said hotly. He didn't seem mad but he wasn't happy either. It almost sounded as though he was between feeling sorry for Abel and laughing at him.

"Y-yes, it was Will-"

"You!" Asthe appeared and grabbed Abel by his shirt and hulled him up. "What is this?" she growled at him, holding up one of his feathers.

"A feather," Abel answered. He silently cursed himself for his carelessness.

"Exactly! A feather that belongs to you! You have the same black wings as Nightlord! And don't try to deny it! I saw you transform!" Asthe glared at him. She still held him up with one hand, while the other held the feather that was practically being shoved into his face.

Leon snatched the feather away from Asthe and looked it over. Noticing it was hard as steel. Now that Asthe had a free hand she punched Abel in the gut then stuck a finger at his chest. "You're going to tell me what the hell-"

"If Four-eyes really did have wings it would be white." Abel frowned at the statement. "He's to much of a good guy to ever be a fallen angel, it would make more sense if it were white," Leon explained. "He can't even kill a fly."

Seth looked like she wanted to laugh, but she still had a serious expression on her face. "We can talk about this later! Abel _Nightlord _needs our help. He found a lead on the orden. Abel you can stay here, until you feel better."

"What, you feel sick?" Asthe shook him roughly before throwing him back onto the bench. "Go drink some blood."

"No, but Seth thinks I am. I feel just fine though…" Abel said, holding up his hands in a sign of peace. Glad Seth had put his gloves and hood on. If Asthe saw him, he wasn't sure how she would react. "And I don't drink blood. I'm not a vampires."

"It's methuselah!"

"Only you could say that Four-Eyes," Leon said grinning evilly. "You're becoming transparent to the point where I can see straight through you, and you say your fine."

Asthe raised an eyebrow and wrenched his hood away from his face. She gasped.

Stupid Leon! Why couldn't he just keep his mouth shut, for once? Was that too much to ask for?

"What's going on?" Asthe snarled. "First I see you sprout wings and now I can see right through you." Asthe moved her hand to his face as if expecting it to pass right though him. Thankfully it didn't.

"We don't have time for this," Seth growled in frustration. "Nightlord is in danger!"

"You have no clue how easy my life would be if he just died," Abel mumbled to himself. Apparently Seth and Asthe both heard him, because while one shot him a glare that could kill, the other punched him in the gut.

"If he disappeared, you wouldn't be here right now!" Seth hissed lowly, so only Abel could hear her.

"Exactly," Abel mumbled back. He followed after Seth who was running at the speed of a human before entering haste. Sighing, Abel forced himself to go at the speed Leon and Esther were going at, as Asthe ran after Seth. Even if he did enter haste, he would probably end up tripping over his feet.

"Are you okay, Father Nightroad?" Esther asked, concern etched into her voice. He and the humans were forced to go between the buildings, as Seth and Asthe jumped from roof to roof.

"Why wouldn't I be okay?" Abel asked sheepishly, throwing a small smile at the girl. Leon snorted at this but didn't say anything.

Suddenly sharp pain lanced through his skull. Abel could hear the pounding of blood in his ears. He brought a hand to his head, as if expecting to see blood, but of course there was none. As soon as he dropped his hand back to his side, his breath caught in his throat. He only just managed to keep himself from falling over and forced himself to keep pace with Esther and Leon.

Abel didn't notice when Esther and Leon turned up another street. He was following them, but his mind wasn't there at the moment.

The sound of a fight, broke him out of his thoughts.

His eyes darted around the scene before him, trying to take in all the information he could. Judging by the blue and red sparks, Nightlord and Cain were fighting in the sky. Seth and Asthe had already arrived at the scene and were dealing with the death hunters.

Leon and Esther fought back to back. Esther shot off a few rounds before her gun clicked and she had to replace the clips. Leon threw his chakrams then swerved so he was in front of Esther and blocked the incoming attack that was aimed for her.

Abel's eyes darted back to Seth. She glanced back at him as if knowing what he was about to do and nodded. Abel nodded back to her, then looked at the sky. He couldn't see Cain or Nightlord thanks to clouds, but he at least had an estimate of where they were. He muttered his ritual words.

The pain numbed as he shot into the sky. He called out his scythe and readied it at his side.

"How nice of you to join us brother," Cain said with a smirk. He easily caught Nightlord's blade and sent a small shock of lightening at Nightlord. "I'm trying to get him to loose cautiousness so I can talk to 02, but he's quite persistent. At this rate, I might just end up killing him," he sounded bothered by his last statement, and made a look as if deep in thought.

"I'm not your brother," Nightroad growled. He aimed his scythe and Cain's neck but he easily dodged it. "And you won't be talking to 02 anytime soon!" Nightroad sent a bolt of lightening through his blade as he swung it.

Cain sighed, "then I guess I'll settle for the alternative. I wonder how this might affect our past and present times…" Cain smirked. He drew out a knife coated in red liquid. "Who knows, it might actually be better with you gone. I am quite sad though. Tell you what if you decide to join me I'll let you live."

"Hell no!"

Nightlord didn't seem to be paying attention to Cain's and Nightroad's quick exchange. Blood trailed after him in a red streak through the sky as he aimed a bolt of lightening at Cain.

A flash of red shot past Nightroad. A second passed and then he felt an unbearable pain course through his heart and lungs. He looked at Nightlord who looked just as shocked. He coughed up blood as his hand reached for the hilt of the dagger in his chest. His form crumpled as his wings disappeared.

"I'll be seeing you later 02," Cain said with a smile. He patted Abel on his shoulder as he slipped a note into his pocket. "I diluted the liquid on the dagger so he might survive… well, he's a goner now since he deactivated the crusnik," Cain said in a singsong voice.

Nightroad forced himself to stay floating as Cain flew past him and disappeared. "Damned brat," Nightroad muttered, as he gave into the darkness. The last thing he remembered was the feel of falling.

XXX

Seth put her daggers away as the death hunters began retreating. Something wet dropped onto her face. She reached her hand up to wipe it away, expecting it to be the start of a storm. Instead it was blood.

Fear for her brother, became her lead emotion as she looked up. Nightlord's wings were wilting as he crumpled up into a ball, falling back to earth. Nightroad still managed to stay afloat as Cain approached him and put a hand on his shoulder, saying a few words. Cain flew away and suddenly Nightroad's wings also wilted and he followed after Nightlord. Seth tore her gaze from him and they flickered back to Nightlord. If she could just save him, then Nightroad would be okay. Right?

Entering haste, Seth caught Nightlord. Skidding across the ground as she cushioned his fall. Seth's back came into contact with the wall of the building. If it weren't for that, they would still be skidding across the now wet ground.

Seth turned him onto his back. A dagger was protruding out of his chest. His warm blood gushed out from around the blade. She put two fingers on his neck and was relieved to find the slight beating of his heart.

"Come on Abel, stay with me," Seth whispered. She pressed her hands desperately at her brother's wounds to slow the bleeding.

-Crash- Seth glanced in the direction of the noise. A few curses spilled from Asthe's mouth. She was sprawled on the ground, having been forced to dodge Nightroad's dissent. In front of her was a small crater. Seth squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again.

Her hand gripped the hilt of the blade. Nightlord's eyes lit up in pain, his mouth moved but no words came out. Instead only the sound of blood gurgling in the back of his throat, met her ears.

"I need to get this out," Seth said. It was pierced straight through his heart and in such an angle that even cut through his lungs. If he weren't a crusnik he'd be dead by now, not to mention the rest of his body was also riddled with slashes and burnt marks from Cain's lightening.

Seth moved Nightlord so he positioned in a sitting position. One hand was against his back as the other was slowly removing the dagger. "Somebody rip up some piece of cloth!" Seth yelled over her shoulder.

"Four-eyes is completely see through! He's almost invisible and he's breathing rapidly," Leon shouted back. Obviously more concerned with Nightroad then Nightlord. Esther ran past Seth and kneeled by Nightroad, both ignoring Nightlord.

"If Nightlord dies, then Nightroad will also die! I need something to close his wounds now! He's loosing to much blood," Seth yelled. Her brother's stupid secret was finally back firing at him. Of only they knew, Nightlord and Nightroad were the same person.

She completely removed the dagger and pressed her hand to the wound. The blood trickled from between her fingers, and within seconds it had become stained red. Somebody knelt by her side. Seth looked up to see Asthe shredding the cape she had gotten from Nightroad.

"I'm not to good at bandaging," Asthe muttered once the cape was completely ripped.

"If you can hold his chest, I'll do it," Seth said, looking straight into Asthe's eyes. The duchess nodded quietly and took Seth's position. Seth took the cape and began wrapping it around her brother. She had already run out of material to wrap the wound with, and the blood had already soaked through half of the layers. They only had a few minutes left until he started bleeding out again.

The only way to save him would be to give him methuselah blood. But the only methuselah there was Asthe, and with the wounds Nightlord had received he would need way more then she could give. Then there was the fact Cain, probably coated the dagger with another strange chemical.

"What the hell?!" Seth looked up sharply and turned to Leon and Esther. Her eyes zeroed in on the lump of clothing in front of them. It was- it was flat on the ground. Nightroad had disappeared. Seth looked back at Nightlord, his breathing had stopped. She put two fingers to his neck again.

No heart beat. They were gone…

* * *

**A/N:** Don't you love my cliffhangers? I know I do. XD

Reviews are appreciated.


	30. Chapter 30

Tears poured from Seth's eyes without her consent. She quickly wiped them away but it was to late, Asthe had already seen. More tears exploded from her eyes. If only she had stopped him from running off. Then Abel wouldn't be gone right now. The cries and yelling of those around her, seemed soft compared to her raging thoughts.

It was only a matter of time before she forgot about him, and everything would change. Time was going to catch up to them anytime now, and there was nothing she could do about it. Nightlord would never return to mars and Father Nightroad would have never existed.

It wasn't fair!

Give him Asthe's blood? No, that wouldn't work. He would never forgive himself. Abel would end up locking himself in the catacombs again.

If only he had stayed in crusnik form! It would have at least given her a little more time to stop the bleeding.

But wasn't the crusnik nano-machines an alien life form? They should still be alive right?

Maybe if she somehow got them to activate… but then he might end up like Cain! But they were never activated to 100%, so it should be okay.

Come on! Time was ticking! If he turned cold before she could figure something out, he'd be gone forever! The rain was already pouring all around them! His body temperature was decreasing fast! Seth quickly wiped another tear away. If she gave him blood, it might at least shock the crusnik into activating. She would need to deal with the crusnik's thirst but since he was already weak from blood loss, it wouldn't be to hard.

"Asthe I need some of your blood," Seth choked out.

"May I ask why?" Asthe questioned, tilting her head slightly. The face she made was almost comical, confused, angry and sad.

"He's not a methuselah… he can't drink human blood. Please Asthe, I need your blood."

Asthe nodded, "okay." She moved so she was right by Abel's side and extended her arm so her hand was over his mouth. Then she squeeze her hand tightly, causing her nails so pierce the skin on her palm. The blood slowly trickled onto Abel's lips. By the look on her face, Seth could tell she was boiling with questions.

Seth took Abel's hand into her own, it was all she could do. She would answer Asthe's questions later… but only if Abel came back. If he didn't, then history would rewrite itself and they wouldn't be in this situation. So there would be no purpose in doing so.

Seconds passed, then minutes and she still got no reaction from Abel. She could tell the crusnik was accepting the blood, but it was doing nothing to revive him.

'No! Come on Abel! Wake up! Please wake up, brother.' Seth shook her head in sorrow, he wasn't coming to.

Seth began shivering as she tried suppressing her tears. Asthe was loosing blood and no matter how much she wanted her brother back, it wouldn't be fair to Asthe, to ask her to giver her life for his. Besides it might not even work.

"That's enough," Seth whispered, looking away from Asthe. Hoping the duchess would understand her body language and not try to comfort her.

Asthe didn't remove her hand. Instead she gripped it harder and blood poured into Nightlord's mouth.

"Asthe stop!" Seth commanded. "He's gone! I don't need you injuring yourself for no reason! Just stop…"

"If giving my life will save his, then I would gladly give it. He is after all the emperor. He's not meant to die in this time," Asthe said, calmly. Hoping Seth would understand and forgive her disobedience.

A few minutes passed by, and still nothing happened. "You're loosing to much blood. Anymore and it will be life threatening," Seth whispered. In truth she really didn't want Asthe to stop, but knew she would need to put an end to it, sooner or later. Seth looked away from her brother and Asthe. "Enough-"

Asthe took a deep breath, "maybe we should try drawing out the poison, from the knife…"

Seth blinked up at Asthe then looked back at Nightlord. Why hadn't she thought of that earlier? Of course it would help if she was able to draw out the poison. Seth took out one of her clean daggers, regretting the fact she had left her first aid kit in the ship.

Taking a deep breath, Seth easily sliced through Nightlord's shirt, and pealed it away from his chest. A gasp escaped her at the sight. The area around his wound was pussy, and his flesh was slowly dying. Whatever that poison was, was eating away at him.

Oh, how she wished she had a scalpel right now! A dagger was hardly enough to cut away at his infected flesh. It was big so she would have a harder time controlling the larger blade once she got to his heart…

No time to think. She would deal with that later.

Taking the dagger, she held it like she would a scalpel, but this time she held it by the blade for more control. Her thumb and middle finger began bleeding, but she ignored it as she started cutting away at the puss.

It took longer then she had expected but she soon got the job done. Now all she had to do was pull the skin away, go between his ribs, and start working on his heart… Seth shivered, she had never done that kind of proceeder with a dagger! And she had only ever done it once with a scalpel!

"We need to get him back to the ship. I can't do anything else with what I have here," Seth said, knowing that even if they did get to the ship that she still might not be able to save him.

Then she heard a shuttering breath. Seth and Asthe looked down. Seth grabbed Abel's hand. She felt it. The hand she was holding in her own shifted slightly. She felt the slight pulse from his hands, as his heart began circulating his blood. Her eyes widened as she just stared at his hand, as if expecting it to do more.

"S-Seth?" His voice was like music to her ears. Seth snapped her head up. Nightlord's eyes were glazed over but he was at least alive! He was okay! Joy bubbled, in Seth's chest.

"Abel, you're okay," Seth said in totally disbelief. "You need to stop fighting the crusnik," she urged. It was the only way his body could create an immunity - against the poison - fast enough.

His eye's were beginning to flutter closed. "Abel? Abel… ABEL!" Seth shouted. No! She couldn't loose him again!

"Don't worry he's just sleeping," Asthe said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "We should get him out of this rain."

"What the hell! Four-eyes is back!"

Seth looked in the direction of Esther and Leon, both had a look of shock on their face. Right in the middle of the crater, Nightroad lay.

(Next Day)

"Abel? Abel? Abel. A-bel?"

Nightroad grunted, as he continued floating in the black void. He had to admit, if this was what death was like, it wasn't as bad as he had hoped. A sinner like him deserved to burn in the hottest fires of hell.

"Aabbeell! Abel? Abel, Abel, Abel, Abel, Abel… ABEL!"

What was that blasted noise?! If only he could locate it, he would make it shut up! A frown pulled at his face. Here he was in this black hole, and he kept hearing some child's voice… It sounded oddly like Seth.

"Abel! Get up, NOW!" the voice ordered, making the word 'now,' longer then it was meant to be, and continued to hold the note. "Abel. Abel. Abel. Ab-el."

Abel somehow managed to turn away from the voice. Of course that only agitated it further, and now the voice had begun singing his name. He didn't bother opening his eyes, knowing he would only see darkness.

Couldn't he be left in peace? He was already dead… At least he could be thankful to Nightlord for one thing.

"Abel?" the voice said again in a ghostly sounding voice.

Who ever it was, would get a 10 for being the most insistent person, Abel had ever met, when it came to waking him up. She was worse then Tabitha! And that was saying a lot, considering his asecond had once dumped a bucket of water on him to get him to wake up. And that was only_ one_ of the many ways she had woken him up…

"Don't make me dump a bucket of water on you!" the voice threatened.

Just then Nightroad heard the sound of a door opening, as two pairs of feet entered the room, it closed a second later.

"Seth, they're both tired," the first person said. She sounded like Asthe.

"You should let them sleep for a while longer. After all Nightlord did technically die, and although I'm uncertain of what happened to Father Nightroad, he's also in a critical condition," the second person whispered. This person sounded like Esther and had taken a few steps toward the place Seth was. The sound of rustling fabric soon sounded, then steps again, as she and Asthe began ushering Seth toward the exit.

"You should get some sleep. We'll wake you up if one of them wakes," Asthe assured her before his sister could mutter a protest.

This amused Abel greatly, since it seemed Asthe was finally beginning to see Seth more as a friend. She had even given his sister a gentle order.

"I'm not tired," Seth said, in what seemed to be a pouty voice. Though Abel could tell it was laced with hidden worry.

Abel inwardly sighed. She really shouldn't be worried about him.

"You haven't slept in more then 24 hours. You should try getting some rest," Asthe argued, gently. She finally managed to escort Seth out of the room, and the door closed behind them, leaving Abel to his own thoughts.

Nightroad's mind drifted off to nothing in particular. He thought about his life before his departure to mars, Seth, Lilith, the crusnik, meeting Caterina, everyone he had known when he was still Nightlord, and not Nightroad… Cain…

A few times he would find himself not thinking of anything, and simply being at peace, sleeping. It was actually funny since he was technically dead, or sleeping; which ever one you chose.

**-Beep-beep-beep- **Abel became aware of another sound in the room. It took him took him a minute to realize it was a monitor keeping track of his heart beat… and someone else's. Abel huffed in irritation as the nagging noise kept his mind from drifting off into his thoughts, or sleep.

He wasn't sure of how much time had passed, but the door soon opened again. Judging from the light steps and the smell, it was Seth. Again. Abel inwardly sighed. He could bet his usual four dinars she was going to try waking him up, again.

"It's been six hours since I was in here, and you two are still sleeping!" Seth growled in frustration. "I understand Nightlord being asleep, but you, Nightroad, weren't stabbed! Besides its never taken you this long to heal before. And the poison has already been removed!" she complained.

So that's how long it had been since he had last heard that nagging voice. Somehow it seemed shorter. He was so tired! All he wanted to do was sleep! Blast that monitor!

"Abel. Abel? A-bel. Abel!"

Okay, pay up. He totally just won his earlier bet.

"Abel. Abel? Abel? A-bel…. ABEL!

Five more minutes?

"Abel, Abel, Abel, Abel, Abel, AAABBBEEELLL!"

Who knew one's own name could become so foreign sounding, after it's repeated constantly?

"Abel! Abel! ABEl! ABEL! **ABEL!" **

Go, away.

-Beep- "Abel." -Beep- "Ab-el." -Beep-Beep- "Abeeelll."

… another song…? And this time it had a beat to it… This was getting ridiculous.

Seth. Shut. Up.

His sister continued singing his name, with her musical instrument, the heart monitor.

"Come, on Abel." -Beep-Beep- "just open your eyes." And now she was adding new words to her song.

"God, I beg of you; make her be quiet."

"You're up!" Seth stopped her singing. Abel heard her rush up to his side. Suddenly he felt a shift, of whatever it was he was laying on… A bed? But that couldn't be right… wasn't he dead? He had seen Nightlord get stabbed through the heart. Even Cain had said he wouldn't survive. "You had me so worried! D-don't e-e-ever d-do that a-again!" Seth cried, unable to hold back her sobs.

Abel felt arms drag him into a hug, as Seth pushed her face against him. He gasped in pain, at the new feeling. All of his senses were suddenly going haywire. Abel shivered as he got the pins-and-needle feeling, along with a stabbing feeling that kept pounding with each beat of his heart. He forced his eyes to open.

"Oops, sorry," Seth said, loosening her grip on him.

"Ho-"

"Does it matter? You're alive!" Seth said, smiling widely, as Nightroad's eyes slowly adjusted to the bright light in the room.

Seth began wiping her face on Abel's shirt, but he didn't care. He began propping himself up, so he sat on his bed with his back leaned against the head board of his bed.

Abel looked around and noticed he was in the infirmary. There were three empty beds to the left of him, but on the right he saw the form of Nightlord under the covers. There were a lot of wires connected to him. A heart monitor, a bag of blood -most likely methuselah- and another bag filled with liquid. There was also another bag, that looked nearly empty that had a purplish, red colored liquid. More red then purple.

Looking back at the bag of blood, Abel scowled. "Where did you get the blood?" He looked back at his sister.

"Asthe… she insisted," Seth said slowly.

"And you actually let her? Do you know how dangerous that is? I know you gave me- him some raw blood, straight from her own body. If he hadn't been so weakened by that drug, he could have killed her!" Abel almost shouted. (Key word: almost) He would have shouted if he didn't feel so weak.

"Abel, she's fine, and so are you." She rolled her eyes, as if knowing she would be having this argument with him.

Abel opened his mouth, prepared to say more. But then his eyes narrowed when he heard people approach the door to the infirmary. Then they widened. Oh crud.

Oh crud, oh crud, oh crud, oh crud, oh crud, OH CRUD! Abel tried thinking of away to hide, or someway to avoid the person behind the door. Unfortunately the only thing his brain could come up with was: OH CRUD!

The door began to open, and his brain was soon assaulted with ideas and ways to get out of his predicament. All of which leaded to horrible results.

"Seth let go," Abel hissed, at his sister who was still giving him a hug.

"Nope," Seth teased. "She already knows, so it doesn't matter anymore."

"She knows?!"

"Yup. And I think Esther found out on her own when Asthe and I were talking… Leon still doesn't know though. He's kind of slow…"

"I heard that!" A gruff voice said, as the door opened. Revealing the three people they had just been talking about. "I am not slow! I'm faster then that idiot," Leon said pointing at Abel. He didn't seem to notice Seth was hugging him. "Huh- wait, why are you? But I thought… What's going on here?"

Spoke to soon.

"Let go," Abel mumbled.

"Nope this is revenge for making me worry. And I'm not just talking about yesterday I'm talking about the past month and the last eight centuries."

"Its so good to see you're feeling better," Esther said, happily.

"So tovarish, are you going to tell me your connection to Nightlord, or do I need to tell you what I know?" It was just like Asthe, to skip straight to the point.

"I have no clue what you're talki-" Nightroad gasped, as Seth's hug became a death hug. "Can't breath…" Seth loosened her hug again and glared at him in the eye. He dutifully changed his answer. "Um… you can tell me what you think you know." 'And then I'll tell you, you're mistaken.'

"You're a Nightlord, became a priest, drink methuselah blood, and he," Asthe pointed to Nightlord who still hadn't woken up, "is you, from the past."

"Um, no I'm not a Nightlord, and he's not me, also just looking at blood makes me sick," Nightroad said bluntly. "But I did become a priest." He gave Asthe a goofy grin.

"That's not what Seth said," Asthe growled. "I can't believe you lied to me! Not to mention everyone who works in the church! How the hell did you become a priest in the first place?"

"I met Caterina when we were younger and we ran to the church because Methuselah were after her. After that I became a priest. And I didn't lie to anybody from the church," 'it's not like they asked,' Nightroad quickly said. Years of lying about his past, sure did pay off.

"I don't get it. Why are they yelling at each other?" Leon asked.

Asthe, Abel and Seth all looked at him, as if he were dumb, but Abel quickly masked it by replacing his shocked face with a plain one.

"Am I missing something?" Leon questioned, looking at each person in turn until his eyes finally fell on Esther.

"Asthe thinks Father Nightroad is actually the future version of Nightlord," Esther explained quietly. All the while she gave Abel an apologetic look. She couldn't lie, she was a nun, for Christ's sake!

"I'm not a Nightlord," Abel sighed. "My name is Nightroad, with 'road' at the end, not 'lord.'"

Asthe glared at him, telling him silently that she would accept that answer for now. At least until she asked her other question. "Fine. But how do explain those wings and drinking blood?"

"You're so funny," Abel chuckled, falling back on his goof act completely. "I don't have wings! And let me tell you, blood just gross' me out. You can even ask Leon, this one time I fainted during a mission because we needed to investigate a room, that was-" Nightroad stopped mid sentence as he made a disgusted look as he began thinking about it. "Never mind," he shook his head, "I don't want to think about it." He stuck out his tongue.

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Blood makes me sick."

"So if accidentally cut myself, you wouldn't grow fangs right?" He fell straight into that one. "Or get the sudden urge to attack me, or gain some other vampiric traits, or-"

"I would suggest not loosing anymore blood," Seth yelled from where she was at the back of the room. Her back was facing them and blocked whatever it was she doing from their sight.

Asthe turned back to Abel and gave him an evil smirk. She walked up to Seth and began helping her with whatever it was she was doing. She washed her hands before opening the small refrigerator and taking something out.

"Okay, that was weird," Leon said with a shrug. "So how you feeling Four- eyes?" He slapped him on the back.

"Much better," Nightroad admitted. "Are you two okay? I remember you two started shouting, and then… well I can't remember," Abel lied.

"We both have a few cuts, but we're fine," Esther said.

"That's nice to know," Abel said, smiling at the girl, causing her to blush and Leon to growl. He quickly changed the subject, "do you two know how Nightlord's doing?" Abel nudged his head in the direction of his younger self.

Leon glanced at the kid and shrugged. "Nope, that girl and Asthe took care of the both of you. Red didn't want me near the infirmary so I was stuck with her all day. But I really didn't mind," Leon said, giving Esther a wolfish grin as he said the last part.

Esther opened her mouth and gave Leon a small smile. "I don't know Nightlord's condition but I do know he was stabbed though the heart, and he the dagger had some sort of chemical that prevented him from activating his… nano-machines," Esther said, hoping to be helpful. "Seth also said something else was mixed into it, but she didn't clarify." She gave Abel a worried look.

Just then Seth and Asthe approached his bed side. Seth was holding out a coffee cup to him, with the cover over it. Besides her Asthe was taking a sip out of her own cup, obviously filled with human blood, making the whole room smell. How Seth managed to put up with the smell would forever be a mystery to him.

Abel took the cup.

Now this was getting childish. He raised an eye-brow at Seth, who just give him an innocent look. Next to her Asthe looked like she was waiting to pounce on her prey. In other words as soon as he took a sip she would say something. Sighing, Abel took a sip of the blood.

He felt his fangs grow over his lips, and heard a gasp come from Leon and a restrained gasp from Asthe. She had been trying to hide her surprise. Abel shivered at how good it tasted, and how by just taking a small sip could make him feel stronger.

Abel removed the cup from his lip as he looked at it. "You were right," Abel sighed, looking directly into Asthe's eyes. He leaned back as he continued, "but you know, you really didn't need to go that far. You did see me transform, after all," he shrugged.

Asthe's mouth dropped open at how easy it had been, to get him to admit that. Blinking, Asthe finally closed her mouth before opening it again, "that's it? You're just going to tell me that I was right?" Abel nodded. "You idiot! I don't care if you are the stinking emperor! There's no way you could be him!" Asthe somehow managed to grab Abel by the collar of his shirt while she pointed to Nightlord.

"I never said I was the emperor," Nightroad said with a slight chuckle. He had said she was right, and being as she never accused him of being the emperor, he hadn't lied. "By the way, you might want to get your hand wrapped up better. It still hasn't healed yet, and with three of my kind in this ship, you never know what might happen."

Asthe's eyes widened, and she fixed him with a glare as she growled at him and stormed out of the room. "Idiot," she mumbled.

"Wait!" Abel called. He jumped out of bed, and pushed his way toward the door. "I was only kidding! He was never able to catch up with her, as he fell to the ground, curtesy of Leon's foot.

"Okay, you lost me. What were you two talking about?" Leon asked, staring down at Abel with his arms crossed as he pressed his boot to his back. "And are those real fangs?"

"No Leon, they're fake," Abel said sarcastically. "I bought a pair at the Halloween convention."

"Huh?"

"Do you mind letting me up? I don't particularly enjoy seeing the world from this view point," Nightroad grunted.

Leon put more pressure on his back, before finally letting him get up. He might never admit it, but he cared about Abel's well being."Well, are you going to explain or not?"

"Explain what?"

"What Halloween is."

"Oh that… Maybe later," Nightroad said as he got up. "I need to talk to Asthe."

"Hey! I asked you a question, Four-eyes!"

But it was to late, Abel had already left the room.

* * *

A/N: Asthe is so pissed! Mwahahahaha! I totally just screwed Abel up. Not only does Asthe and Esther know, but as soon as Leon finds out... well, I'll leave that up to your imagination for now.

Please leave a review, I would be appreciated... lol, I know bad english. LOL. Everyone in my class is changing their voice message to something with some strange grammar problem :D Ok, see you folks next time.


	31. Chapter 31

Seth blinked as she watched Nightroad's hasty retreat. Well, that was just great. Now she was left to explain everything to Esther and Leon.

Esther wasn't a problem but Leon…

She shook her head as she crossed the room to check on Nightlord. His heart monitor was now stable. They had a few times when his heart would suddenly stop beating for minutes at a time, or even speed up. Thankfully it ended as soon as it came. And by the way his ears were positioned he was already awake. Seth decided to let him continue pretending to be asleep.

"Do you know what Halloween is?" Leon asked Esther. Out of the corner of her eye, Seth saw Esther shake her head. "Hey girl," Leon was now looking at Seth, "do you know what it is, or was Four-eyes just talking nonsense?"

First off my name is Seth. And yes, I do think Father Nightroad was just spouting random things." She returned her attention to Nightlord and unhooked the bag that was collecting all the poison. She then replaced it with a bag filled with water and delicately placed another needle into Nightlord's arm. She got a flinch from him, but otherwise received no response.

'I still can't believe the humans forgot about Halloween. Its such a shame. It really was a great holiday, and yet they didn't forget about Christmas, or Easter, or Thanksgiving, or Valentines day! Besides Christmas and Easter they don't even know the historical events behind Thanksgiving, or Valentine's day!'

"Seth?"

She looked up to see Esther giving her a worried look. Seth had been frowning when thinking about the holidays.

"Oh sorry, I was just thinking about a few things," Seth said. She rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

"What was Asthe 'right' about?" Leon interrupted, still trying to get an understanding of the whole situation. Boy, was he clueless.

Seth looked up at Leon, she quickly came up with the simplest response she could think of. "Asthe thought Father Nightroad was Nightlord, and he admitted that she was right," Seth said.

Leon's brow furrowed in confusion. "What?"

"Never mind, just ask Father Nightroad when he comes back," Seth suggested. She turned back to Nightlord, "I know you're up. You always angle your ears whenever you pretend to be asleep."

"I do not," Nightlord grumbled. He moved into a sitting position and eyed the needles in his arm. "Did you have to stab me with another needle?" He made a move to pull it out.

"I didn't stab you, and you had better leave those alone. Or else," Seth motioned toward the needles in his arm.

"Nope, sorry, but I'm not keeping these things attached to me," Nightlord growled, though it was more to the needles and wires hooked up to him then Seth. He then proceeded to pluck all three needles out of his arm, and pulled off the wires connected to the heart monitor.

Seth glared at him.

"Come on, you can't say you're not interested in what that geezer's going to do." Nightlord had somehow appeared behind Leon and Esther and had already opened the door.

Seth rolled her eyes. At least they would be amused… "Come on, let's go watch the show," she said to the two humans.

XXX

Abel Nightroad had said a lot of dumb things in his life. More then others, being how old he was, but that- that must have been the dumbest thing he had said in the last ten years.

'"By the way, you might want to get your hand wrapped up better. It still hasn't healed yet, and with three of my kind on this ship, you never knew what might happen." I'm such an idiot! Of course she would react badly to that!' Abel mentally scolded himself. Was it just him, or was he becoming more and more like how he had been when he was younger?

"Asthe, can't we just talk? I said I was sorry," Abel said. He was leaning against the wall of her room.

"So that you can tell me you're the emperor? I don't think so," Asthe growled through the door. Abel could tell she was right by the entrance.

Abel sighed, "I'm not the emperor." 'Emperor, was just some title, but I never accepted it.'

"You know, it sure does explain your behavior for when you shrunk. Or was it all apart of your act? Are you acting right now?"

"I really don't know, myself anymore," Abel said truthfully. "Before I became the Pope's agent, I didn't trust anyone, and I was a lot like how I had acted when I had first shrunk. I was ordered to act the way I do now. Caterina told me I didn't need to, but I still do. Not to sure why though. I guess it's just easier to be someone I'm not."

"You remember what happened when you shrunk?" Asthe interrupted.

Abel chuckled nervously. "When I first shrunk, I had lost my memories. But when we went to the empire, I got my them back. And then when I got my body back, I hadn't forgotten anything that happened." Abel heard a huff from the other side of the wall and said a quick apology.

"Why did you become a priest in the first place? Do you even believe in this so called God?"

"I became a priest to protect my- the methuselah and humans. And yes, I suppose in someways I believe in God, but I wouldn't call myself a full fledged believer," Abel said. He didn't believe in God, how could he with all the harm the church had caused him and his siblings when they were children. What he did believe in was everything God and Jesus Christ represented… without anyone from the church tainting the meaning of the bible.

"Listen Asthe," Abel started. "I'm sorry, I didn't tell you any of this before. And I'm also sorry for that comment, back in the medical bay, but you really should be taking better care of your hand. You injured it far more then you should have."

Nightroad jumped as the door swung open. Then Asthe came out and pointed a finger at him, using the same hand she had wounded. "And whose fault do you think that is?

"Er, mine?

"No it wasn't your fault. You're an idiot, and I'm not dumb enough to injure myself for someone like you," Asthe stated boldly.

"That's kind of mean, don't you think, Asthe?" Abel asked. He tried to duck away from her finger.

Asthe snorted, "you might be the older version of Nightlord, but there will never be a day when I accept you as my emperor!"

"Um, okay…" ' It's not like I want you to treat me like the emperor.' Abel said inwardly.

"How did you become so dumb anyway?"

"Ouch."

Nightroad turned to see Nightlord in the hall behind Asthe.

"Go away," Nightroad growled. He didn't want to deal with the kid right now.

"Can't make me, geezer," Nightlord replied. He looked like he was about to stick his tongue out but instead turned his ice blue eyes on Asthe. "Trust me when I say I don't want to become like him. For one the church hates my kind, I hate glasses - expecially his, it makes my eyes watery- , and that act of his sucks. I don't think I would live a day acting the way he does. It must take a lot of effort to trip and fall on a flat street. But he has his reasons."

"I do not trip on flat surfaces," Nightroad mumbled to himself, even knowing it was true. He quietly cursed his glasses.

Asthe rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say, but he's still an idiot. And I can only hope you don't turn out like him."

Nightlord shrugged, "don't worry, me too. Someone would have to pay me really well to make me act like that. Not that money could actually persuade me to do so but…"

"I'm right here you know?" Nightroad grumbled.

"Hard not to notice when you're only a yard away," Nightlord responded.

"So have you recovered yet?"

"Yes, why?"

"Because now I don't need to hold back," Nightroad answered as he sent a punch straight at Nightlord head. The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed down the hall as the kid was sent to the ground. "Think before you act, brat."

"What the hell, was that for? I might have recovered overall, but I'm still injured!" Nightlord put a hand to his jaw. He quickly jumped to his feet and glared at Nightroad. That was a cheap shot.

"Yeah well incase you didn't notice, I'm not in my best shape either, thanks to you."

"It's not my fault you didn't answer your radio!"

"Wait, so you did call?" Nightroad asked.

"No?" Nightlord replied sarcastically. "I didn't call you! What do you think? Of course I called you! How could I not? You kept on radioing me every minute!"

"Then why didn't you tell Seth?"

"Because…" Nightlord's voice faltered. Then he glared back at his older self, "you didn't tell me to!" 'Even if Seth is nearly a thousand years old, there's no way I'm ever going to put her in danger,' he thought to himself.

Asthe watched as the Abels continued arguing. She heard enough of this. Scowling she slapped a hand (thankfully it wasn't her injured hand) over Nightroad's mouth and hissed, "stop your yelling."

"He's yelling more then I am!" Nightroad said. His voice was muffled thanks to Asthe's hand.

Nightlord smirked and punched Nightroad in the gut. Thanks to Asthe holding him, the older Abel couldn't dodge the attack. Nightroad raised his fist to return the blow but Asthe caught it.

"Shouldn't you two stop fighting?" Asthe asked. She still held Nightroad in place, despite his squirming. She had no doubt he could get away if he wanted, but that would mean possibly injuring her.

"Only if he stops first," both Abels replied stubbornly. "Would you quit copying me? I'm not copying you! You're copying me! Little pest/ old fart! Am not!"

They both glared at each other. Nightlord on his tippy toes so that he towered over Nightroad who didn't seem the least bit fazed by his added height. Nightroad still had his outstretched arm held by Asthe, while she still had her hand over his mouth. Nightlord had a smug expression on his face as if saying, 'you can't touch me!'

Down the hall and around the corner Seth sighed and rolled her eyes. Leon's eyes where practically popping out of his sockets. He couldn't believe Four-eyes was actually standing up to the emperor. Esther seemed to be worried for Father Nightroad's well being but she still seemed shocked to know she was also staring at his younger self. He hadn't changed in over nine hundred years!

"Those two are really rubbing off on each other," Seth commented. She stepped out of her hiding spot and approached the two boys and nodded to Asthe to have Nightroad released. Asthe did so hesitantly and was surprised when he didn't start attacking his younger self. Instead he just looked at Seth as Nightlord slowly turned to also look at her but didn't take his eyes off Nightroad for a minute.

"What?" They both asked in unison. This earned Nightroad a punch from Asthe. He gasped at the sudden pain and clutched his stomach. "Ow," Nightroad whined.

"I need to check Asthe's hand, and you two need to stop fighting. Uncle, I suggest you teach him how to use the crusnik better," Seth said with a slight smirk at the 'uncle' part.

It took both Abels awhile to realize she was talking to Nightroad. Since she was supposed to be the daughter of the youngest Nightlord siblings it would make her their niece.

"So I get to be called uncle, and he gets to be called brother? How's that fair?" Nightroad questioned.

Seth shrugged, "it would be weird calling him uncle since he's not even half my age."

"And I need to learn from this geezer because…?"

"Because Cain has been targeting you more often then Father Nightroad," Seth replied. She rounded the corner and opened the door.

Both Abel's looked at each other. "I think we can both agree on just saying we practiced and sparred for a bit?" they both said. "Great, good thing that's settled," the Abel's sighed in unison. "Now don't bother me!"

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait guys. So I have a question: Should I make the chapters shorter (only three pages) and post every day... or every other day. Or should I just continue writing how ever much I want, until I deem the chapter long enough, and find a good place to stop (this could take a whole week, as I'm sure many of you have noticed.)


	32. Chapter 32

Leon and Esther watched as the Abels walked in their separate directions. Nightlord heading into the control/ living room and Nightroad going to his own room. They had both decided to follow Nightroad.

"Yoh, Four-eyes! So you gonna tell me what Halloween is or what?" The buff man asked. He swung his arm over Nightroad's shoulder, forcing the taller man to slump over from the added weight.

"It was a day when humans would dress up in costumes, pre-Armageddon. It doesn't exist anymore," Nightroad said. He gently pushed Leon off his shoulder, but the man didn't didn't notice his discomfort so he kept his arm wrapped around his head. Nightroad sighed in frustration.

"Then where did you get those fangs?" Leon asked. He cocked his head to the side and looked at Abel's mouth as if expecting to see the fangs.

Nightroad sighed again. "Actually I-"

"Father Nightroad, is what you said earlier true? You really are Nightlord?" Esther interrupted. She already knew the fangs were real, so she didn't really care about that.

"Yes, but I am _not_ the emperor," Nightroad said. It felt as if he would be explaining this for a very long time. To bad he couldn't just tape record his answers.

"Wait! So you're related to the imperial family of the New Human Empire!?" Leon yelled in shock, pointing a finger at Abel. His eyes widened as his jaw hung open. Nightroad looked from Leon to Esther and back again. Oh, how their reactions differed.

Unlike Leon, Esther didn't have a sudden outburst. Instead she took the new information in stride and just accepted it. The only thing that had changed on her pale face was that her eyes had widened slightly. Nightroad suspected that Caterina would have a similar reaction. 'And kill me, for not telling her anything. I could have saved her doing a lot of paper work if she just presented me to the empire,' Abel thought to himself.

He stopped by the door to his room and studied the handle. It had been tampered with. Nightroad looked back at Leon and Esther. It was probably a trap set up by Leon, the work was that of an amateur. Even Esther could have done better then this. Sighing, Abel twisted the door nob. A small electric shock ran up his arm, but he ignored and pushed the door wide open. Almost immediately a ball of slime shot out of his room and into the hall. If he had been human, he wouldn't have seen it coming and would have been hit square in the face.

"Your pranks suck," Abel muttered under his breath. He heard a grumble come from Leon and promptly ignored it. Not sensing any other traps he walked into his room. Human's in tow.

'Here goes explaining everything to an idiot. I wonder how long it will take for him to finally understand. Oh, and I also need to tell him not to tell anyone from the vatican."

XXX

(Meanwhile)

Nightlord plopped himself down onto the couch. He didn't let on much, but that old man's punch really hurt! He rubbed his jaw again. Not only did the geezer hit him but the punch actually caused him to fall, thus reopening his wound just a little. His hand then went to his chest that was bandaged tightly beneath his shirt.

Sighing, Nightlord took out his book and began reading. His eyes skimmed over the words, but his brain wasn't processing it. Instead his mind was silently drifting back to mars.

The past month had been anything but fun. Visiting another time really wasn't something one should see, especially if said person was in that future. His near death experience proved that much. The geezer had almost died because of him!

In the future he would become some bumbling priest, his sister would become the empress. Cain was insane and had tried killing him… and Lilith… Lilith was-was dead.

Back on mars he never really looked this far into the future. Hell, he didn't even think he'd live this long! A century was long, and a whole millennia was even longer. Back on mars, the only thing he ever thought about was keeping his siblings and Lilith alive. He worried about the well being of the colonists and the rebel forces, but this- this was just crazy.

Nightlord groaned and put the book on his face. It seemed the only sane one, out of the three Nightlord siblings would be Seth.

Cain would be some crazed leader of the orden. A group wanting war between the empire and vatican. But that was only their short time goal. Their real goal was to kill all the humans and vampires and rebuild the world.

Abel would become a priest. Another groan escaped his lips. That was possibly the worst career a guy like him could get!

At least Seth seemed happy, even if she was lonely. Nightlord couldn't believe he had actually left his sister to run a whole country by herself. In the end, it might have been for the best though… It still might be…

If the geezer decided to return to the empire after this whole mess, the vatican would undoubtedly kill Caterina for employing the 'empress'' brother. Unless they kept it a secret, but the information would eventually leak. And being that the geezer was Nightlord, he couldn't imagine him, or himself wearing a veil like Seth does.

The sound of an engine turning on met Nightlord's ears. It was followed by a light beeping and a small button flashed red. Groaning, Nightlord sat up and looked over the head of the couch. One of the monitors had turned on, someone was by the entrance of the ship and wanted to radio them.

Walking to the screen, Nightlord pressed the button to accept the call. It didn't cross his mind that the person could be an enemy.

The screen whirled to life. The camera outside showed a noble of albion. He had blond hair and reddish eyes. The man looked into the camera. On his side he could see Nightlord looking at him. Shock flashed in his features but they soon disappeared.

"Sir, Nightroad, it would appear you've gotten your body back," the man said.

Nightlord scrunched up his face. He wasn't that idiot yet! "Excuse me, but I believe you have me mistaken for someone else. Father Night_road_ is currently in his room. Please tell me your business here," Nightlord requested; immediately putting on the face of one in high command. He didn't smile or even ask the man for his name.

"I apologize for my mistake. I'm Virgil Walsh," the man bowed. "My queen wishes for those in your group to join us at The Royal's ball. It starts at sunset tomorrow. It'll be at the palace. Of course you don't need to come, my queen will understand. After all, we're all aware of your troubles."

"Thank you, Lord Walsh. I'll be sure to tell my companions of the invitation. Was that all?"

Virgil shook his head. "I was also charged with relaying a message to Father Nightroad, lady Seth, Duchess Astharoshe and Sir Ion. I'm sorry for the inconvenience but this message is only meant for them. If they decide to tell you later, then that's their business, but I can only tell those four."

"I understand. If you'll be so kind as to wait I'll get them. However Ion isn't here right now."

"That's fine. I'll wait here then," Virgil nodded. Nightlord bowed and turned the screen off then left the room.

Nightlord picked up his book on the way out and pocketed it. He knocked on Nightroad's door, as it was closer then the medical bay.

"Geezer! Some guy named Virgil want's to talk to you!" Nightlord yelled through the door. He didn't wait for Nightroad to answer before going to the door of the medical room and telling Seth and Astharoshe the same thing.

"Why didn't you let him in?" Seth asked once she came out. Unlike with the geezer, Nightlord had decided to wait for his sister.

"I don't know him well enough to trust him," Nightlord responded.

Seth sighed, "let him in. We'll be there in a minute. I just need to wrap up Asthe's hand."

Nodding, Nightlord walked to the hatch and opened it. Lord Walsh looked surprised at the sudden movement of the door sliding open.

"Seth said to let you in," Nightlord answered his question before Virgil could ask it.

"Thank you," Virgil said. Nightlord just nodded and led the way into one of the planning rooms. By the time he got there, the others were already seated. Seth sat at the edge of the table. To her right was Asthe, the geezer and the geezer. On the other side, Esther and Leon sat. Nightlord took a seat next to Leon, not wanting to sit by the geezer, leaving Lord Walsh to either sit by Nightroad or at the other head of the table. He chose to sit across from Seth.

"Everything you have to say can be said in front of everyone," Seth said. She obviously had no intention of telling Him, Esther or Leon to excuse themselves.

Lord Walsh nodded and drew an envelope out of his coat pocket. He began: "for the past month now, we've been receiving letters and notes pertaining to how you've been doing. I'm sure your group has nothing to do with this, as non of them had the emblem of the empire or vatican on it."

He slid the envelope on the table. "That's not why I came here though. The latest note we received was different from all the others. It's not a report." He eyed everyone in the room, fixing them all with a glare. "You must all promise me nothing I say will escape this room. No one else must know, especially not our enemies."

"You have our word," Seth replied.

Her words were followed by: "Spit it out already," from Leon.

Virgil stood, "is there perhaps a data cube screen I could use?"

Seth nodded and swiveled around in her chair. Standing up she went to the wall in the back of the room and pressed a hidden panel. "Just insert it here," she said, indicating the small indention in a square shape. Lord Walsh did so. The minute the cube touched the small indention it disappeared into it and lines of colors spread out.

_ "Greetings my lovely queen!" a voice spoke. A second later the screen came to life. A man dressed in nothing but white pants was seated on a single cushion couch. Six white wings spread out behind him. Thanks to the position of camera and shadow, no one could make out mans face. However it was obvious this man was Cain. _

Nightroad merely pushed up his glasses as he watched the video, a small frown pulling at his lips. Seth was full out glaring at the image of Cain wither her arms crossed over her chest. Asthe, Esther and Leon recognized him, but couldn't place a name.

Nightlord forcefully pulled his face into a scowl. Even if his brother had tried to kill him, he couldn't bring himself to hate Cain. Nightlord glanced at the geezer, his gaze was full of hate even if his face held an emotionless mask. Nightlord wondered if he could ever hate his brother so much to actually consider killing him.

_The recording continued: "If you care about a possible heir to the thrown I suggest you ignore all reports of strange activities." A map of Londinium replaced Cain's image. Then three smaller icon's with Cain's face on it darted across the screen and landed in different areas. One was at the harbor, the palace and another kept tracing the path of where the parade had been. "I want you to ignore all actions in the harbor. When the parade and the royal ball start I don't want to see any of your men looking around for strange activities. I promise you if you simply obey me, you will not be hurt." Cain's image replaced the map again. _

_He continued, "a storm will happen during the parade, I don't want the fight with my brother to be interrupted. Also during the royal ball, I simply request that you do not cancel it. I also want you to invite a few people for me." His image was again replaced by pictures of their group. He then began naming all of them, from left to right. When he was done the screen went blank, then lit up as the camera tried to focus. This time it was a shot of the queen working on paper work in her room. "Remember, I have eyes everywhere. Don't do anything reckless or I will kill a member of the royal family." _

"The queen doesn't know who this person of the royal family is?" Esther said in a confused voice.

"Yes, that's why we must keep this a secret. If the people were to find out about these threats they would go on a riot. Since no one knows who this heir is, they won't care if this person got hurt," Virgil said in a saddened voice. "We believe this person is most likely the child of prince Gilbert. However with him and his wife dead, we don't know who this person is, let alone where he or she lives…"

"We understand Lord Walsh. Everything said in this room will not leave it," Seth spoke up. "We'll also be accepting that invitation to the ball."

"Very well, you'll be needing these. Also it's a masked ball, so you'll all need masks. Unless you plan on coming after the unmasking which will be at 8 pm." Virgil took out a smaller envelope then the first and gave it to Seth. "By the way," he looked at Nightroad. "It's nice to see you have your body back. Did you get all your memories back?"

The geezer laughed lightly. "Thankfully yes. I also understand I wasn't exactly the nicest person in that form. Please forgive my rudeness." Besides him, Asthe fixed him with a glare.

"Not at all. If it weren't for you the queen wouldn't even be here right now. By the way, who is that? Your brother?" Virgil pointed to Nightlord.

"No, we're distant relatives."

"I see, sorry for assuming, but you two could pass as twins."

"That's what everyone else tells me," they both said in unison. "We also do this a lot so…" they both shrugged. "It's understandable."

"That's the understatement of the year," Leon commented.

"No kidding," Asthe said.

"Um about the dance. If we go then who's going to watch over the kids?" Esther asked.

"Kids?"

"Yeah, we bumped into them when Nightroad first shrunk," Leon answered.

"Oh?"

"Unfortunately we can't find a proper home for them since one of them is a fairy and another is a witch of sorts. The other one is normal but his whole life has been with fairies so he'd have a hard time adapting to normal life," Nightroad added.

"I know a woman who could take care of them. She was actually looking for kids to raise since she can't have any," Lord Walsh said, with a thoughtful look on his face. "If you like we could introduce these kids to her tomorrow before the ball, and they can get to know her for the night. If they don't get along with her then I'm certain we can find another home for them, here in Albion."

* * *

**A/N:** Didn't expect this chapter to come out so soon. Oh well, here it is! Please read and review.

Thanks for reviewing the last chapter Mokat and Flame800900.


	33. Chapter 33

(Next day)

"I don't want to wear that!" both Abels yelled at the same time. Seth held up two suits with similar styles the only difference was the color. "I refuse to wear anything remotely similar to what he's wearing!" They pointed at each other then turned to glare in each others eyes, when both of their fingers jabbed the other in the chest. "What was that for? You did it first! You poked me too! Did not!" They turned back to Seth, "I'm not wearing that."

"Then go look for your own suits!" Seth ordered. They were currently in a store that sold expensive clothing. Esther and Leon had already picked out their clothing and masks. Asthe already had her own ball dress and Seth, well she was the empress. Of course she had an appropriate dress to wear. Now the only two who still needed something were Nightlord and Nightroad.

"This is dumb," Nightlord grumbled. "I have enough trouble just wearing these clothes you've given me! Look at this, they have golden strings woven in through it!" He held up his hand and pointed to the sleeve.

"In Tres language, they restrict my movement and so they are a nuisance ," Nightroad said, earning a chuckle from Esther and Leon.

"Besides, I don't even know how to dance!" the two silver heads exclaimed. "And I really don't think I can sit around doing nothing until the ball ends."

"I know for a fact that you can both dance. And you won't be sitting around doing nothing. We've already accepted Lord Walsh's invitation so we need to go. Plus Cain wants us to go, if we don't we could be putting everyone else in danger."

"Fine."

"I'll wear the dumb suit."

"So you two don't care if they're the same?" Esther asked. "A minute ago y-"

"It's fine, at least the color is different," they said.

"Finally," Seth exasperated. She quickly purchased everything before they could change their minds.

Asthe looked at their small group as they left the store. "How are we going to partner up? I understand it's a masked dance, but I would rather not dance with someone I don't know. Especially with the orden involved."

"I agree," Seth said. "And I have already decided who's going with who. Father Leon and Esther will be together." Leon smiled wickedly at this information and put a hand on Esther's shoulder. "Nightlord will go with you, and Nightroad with me."

"What, but he's a priest! Your dance partner shouldn't be him!" Asthe said, shaking her head. "You should take Nightlord and I'll take Nightroad."

"Is that really a good idea?" Seth asked. She looked up at Asthe and looked as if she had aged by hundreds of years. "With everything that has come to light, you still don't trust Nightroad. If anything happens you two will most likely be together, and I don't want you two arguing in any life threatening situations. Besides they are the same person in the end so it's fine. I'll take Nightroad."

"Am not! He's nothing like me!" the Abels yelled.

"See?" Seth smirked. The silver heads had proven her point for her. She glanced at them to see them whispering to each other. It was most likely another argument.

XXX

Guests began streaming into the palace. About half of them had dates while the other half arrived by themselves or with friends. Some of the younger Nobles were using this masked dance to dress out of character and find their dance partner who also wore masks.

Seth had decided it would be best for them to arrive at the ball at different times. She and Nightroad had already entered and Esther and Leon had gone after them. Now all that was left was Nightlord and Asthe.

"Shall we?" Nightlord offered Asthe his hand and gave a slight bow.

Both his and Nightroad's suit were a brilliant white. The vest underneath was grey. The only difference where the streams of gold and blue silk that lined the cuffs and pants. Nightroad wore gold while Nightlord had blue.

Asthe took Nightlord's hand and he stood up to his full height. Her dress matched Nightlord's suit almost perfectly. Her dress was sky blue and layered so it puffed up around her hips, but not so much as to make it hard to maneuver around crowds. Her sleeves had double ruffles and left her shoulders bare. She topped it off with a small pearl necklace.

Nightlord led Asthe into the hall. Just like planned he made sure to find a seat next to the table's Seth and Esther were sitting at. Leon had already whisked Esther away onto the dance floor and Seth had somehow found a way to convince his other self to dance with her.

Sighing Nightlord took off his coat and hung it nonchalantly over the back of a chair. "Would you honor me in a dance?" he asked. He really didn't want to, but if he just sat down it would be seen as rude.

"I'd be honored," Asthe replied. She took his hand and they both began dancing to the beat of the music. They didn't miss a beat and they were in total synch with each other. They soon found a pattern and didn't even bother stopping when the songs changed or when they sped up.

As they danced people began backing away from them to watch in awe. Soon they were the only ones who were still dancing besides Nightroad and Seth. Nightlord and Nightroad locked eyes, both mentally telling the other they hated this and really wanted the song to end.

"Want to take this up a notch?" Seth whispered. As crusniks and methuselah they all heard her.

"What do you have in mind?" Nightlord whispered back. Weren't they trying to keep a low profile? Wasn't that why they entered the palace at different times? He just hoped it wasn't anything extravagant.

"Nothing much, just switching partners and a few swings in between," Seth grinned.

"Seth is that really a good idea? We're already sticking out as it is," Nightroad said. Seth rolled her eyes and looked back at Nightlord with begging eyes. Her lower lip was pulled in a pout so it stuck out a little.

"Don't give me that look," Nightlord said.

"Please Abel. I haven't had any fun in centuries, please!"

"Fine already," they both whispered back. "On the third beat then…?"

Around them their audience didn't notice their small chat. They simply continued watching. Even Leon and Esther where watching, both were shocked by Nightroad's sudden gracefulness. A few brave people had started forming a wide circle around them.

Without missing a beat the Abels switched up movements and spun the ladies. There wasn't even pause as the two reached over and switched partners. The movement was so fast that the audience didn't notice the change at first. They continued dancing and after another six beats they swung the ladies to the side in a sweeping motion then brought them back up and caught them, holding them in a pose as the crowd burst into cheers and the song ended.

"Happy?" they both muttered to Seth who simply smiled up at them.

"Very," She replied. "So when did you guys switch?" Seth whispered, she looked up at Nightlord.

"Switch? What are you talking about? We just switched a few beats before the song ended," Nightlord said. His brows furrowed in confusion. He took Seth's hand as he led her back to where Asthe and Nightroad were.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Seth rolled her eyes. "I'm your sister. You think I can't tell the difference between the younger you and the older you? Nightroad?"

"Oops," Nightlord said. He was actually Nightroad wearing a wig and had stuffed his hair under it to make it short just like Nightlord's. Nightlord was also wearing a wig that was the exact same length as Nightroad's hair and kept it down instead of in a bow like how Nightroad usually wore it. "Just don't tell anyone yet," he whispered back to Seth.

By now all the nobles including Esther and Leon had filed back onto the dance floor. A few of them without dates looked at Nightroad, Nightlord, Seth and Asthe with jealously, but none of them were brave enough to actually ask for a dance.

"Pretty good for a brat," Nightlord said, taking this act very seriously. He ran a hand through the long hair of his wig. They both moved to stand next to their original dates.

"Could say the same to you, Geezer. Who knew you could be so nimble?" Nightroad shot back. It was a good thing only Seth knew about the little switch.

The two both snickered. It felt odd calling the other by another nickname than the one they usually used. Especially when they were using the name they were usually called by the other. They turned back to the their dates and said in unison, "care for a drink?"

"I'll have wine," Asthe said.

"And you want punch right?" Nightlord asked.

Seth nodded, "we'll be at our tables." The Abel's nodded and left to get the drinks.

Once they were out of hearing distance of the girl they both let out a breath they hadn't noticed they were holding. "Who knew it would be so hard to act like a brat/geezer? It was your idea," they both sighed. "I know. I'm starting to regret it."

"Seth knows," Nightroad added. He looked at the brat. Since the kid was wearing a wig that was the exact replica of his own hair it really looked as though he was staring right at himself, even if he was now wearing a wig with short hair.

"She does? You told her not to tell Astharoshe right?" Nightlord asked worriedly.

"Nope, told her not to tell anyone. Esther's a lot smarter than she looks. She might find out as well so I just told Seth not to say anything," Nightroad said. "She probably thinks its a prank." He grabbed two glass cups and began filling it with his and Asthe's drinks. Nightlord was doing the same for his and Seth's.

"That's fine. Just as long as Astharoshe and Leon don't find out," Nightlord said. If Asthe found out she would end up making a big scene or end up yelling at them when they went back to the ship. And Leon, well he was an even bigger problem. If he knew, he wouldn't even think twice about opening his big mouth and 'announcing' to everyone that they had switched places.

They grabbed the cups and began maneuvering back to their separate tables. Although Seth and Asthe were on different table they both sat so that they were in between the two, and could talk to each other freely.

"… that does seem like him," Asthe was saying as the Abels approached their dates and sat the drinks by them.

"Seems like you two are enjoying yourselves," Nightlord commented, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at what had just come out of his mouth. Instead Nightroad rolled his eyes for him. They had this acting thing down. It wasn't as hard as it seemed.

Nightroad snickered at the 'geezers' discomfort. 'The brat's better at acting than I ever gave him credit for,' Nightroad thought to himself. He grabbed his coat that he had hung on his chair and began slipping the coat on before pulling the chair back to take a seat. He didn't get the chance to sit on it.

Someone's hand suddenly gripped his shoulder and Nightroad turned to look at the owner. The man stood at the same height as him and had light blond hair. His eyes were blue just like Abel's only a few shades darker. He smirked at Nightroad's shock but quickly changed it to an over friendly smile.


	34. Chapter 34

**A/N: I changed the last chapter a bit. I got a few complaints that it was confusing so in that chapter and this chapter I'm referring to Nightlord and Nightroad as themselves. Nightlord is Nightlord and Nightroad is Nightroad. **

"What are you doing here?" both Abel's growled in unison. They sent the man an icy glare.

"Making sure you're okay. I must admit I never expected to see the two of you alive again. Oh well. It works out better this way," Cain said with a smile. His grip tightened on Nightroad's shoulder, but he didn't react, not wanting his brother to get the satisfaction.

'If it weren't for this damned act I would have beaten him to a pulp by now!' the Abels thought in unison. Their next thoughts were filled with colorful words that would put even the devil to shame. 'Plus these people might get caught in the crossfire…'

"Release me," Nightroad ground out. Cain's hand was still squeezing his shoulder causing the bones to make a sickening cracking sound. Nightroad snarled when Cain still didn't listen. His hand shot up and punched Cain's elbow, forcing him to release his shoulder. It didn't seem Cain noticed the switch yet.

"Ah!" Cain pouted. "I was only trying to give you a friendly gesture!" He rubbed his elbow, acting as if it hurt.

By now almost all the guests were looking at the commotion. Lord Walsh was helping the queen stand up and move into the hall. He gave the group a small nod and retreated to safety.

"Your definition of friendly is anything but," Nightlord said. What he really wanted to say was more along the lines of 'screw you,' but seeing as a priest wouldn't say that he didn't say it.

Cain gave them a sheepish grin and shrugged. Asthe had moved so she was in front of Seth and was trying to get Nightroad to get behind her as well. She didn't care if Nightlord got hurt. She still didn't know they had switched places.

"Everything I have done has been for you, 02," Cain chuckled. He looked straight into Nightlord's eyes causing him to shiver. Those were not the eyes of the Cain he was use to back on mars. Cain shook his head in mock shame, "but it appears you don't understand this. Which is why I have brought this younger 02 here." He patted Nightroad on the head.

"Don't touch me!" Nightroad growled. He ducked away from Cain's hand and slapped it away. If it weren't for all of these peoplem he would have attacked the idiot by now. Damn it!

"Fine, fine." Cain held up his hands in surrender. "This is supposed to be a social event. Really, I'm only here to talk. Why don't we have a seat?" He gestured to the chair behind Nightroad and swept his gaze over Seth, Asthe and Nightlord.

"You think we'll actually believe that?" the Abels yelled in unison. Both clenched their hands into fists, expecting Cain to attack them once they showed an opening.

Leon and Esther were slowly approaching the group. Esther had her hand at the hem of her dress. Ready to draw out her gun if needed. Leon had also removed his chakrams from his wrist but wasn't twirling them on his fingers. Both were waiting for some type of signal.

"Hey take it outside!" someone from the crowd yelled. He obviously wanted the continue with the dance. His outburst was followed by several murmurs of agreement.

Cain snapped and snarled at the crowd. This wasn't good. The group tensed up. Cain's eyes were slowly becoming red and his fangs had grown over his lips. The crowd took an apprehensive step back. Well, at least they were further from danger… Cain's eyes snapped back to Nightroad. Eyeing him up as though he were his prey.

'Now what's something that brat would say in a situation like this?" Nightroad mentally asked himself. All he could think of doing was just glare at Cain. "What the hell his wrong with you? You never acted this way before!" he yelled. He knew his brother had long since left, and was replaced by 01. Nightroad also hated his guts for killing _her,_ but it was all he could think of saying if he still planned on keeping up with this act. He needed to find someway to enrage Cain just enough to get him outside.

Suddenly Cain disappeared. Not even a second passed before a blast hit him straight in the chest, sending him flying into Nightlord. They both caught a glimpse of Cain, but he was moving to fast for them to lock onto.

A hand roughly grabbed Nightroad by his shirt and pulled him up. As he stood his wig fell off and his hair flowed down his back. Not that it mattered anymore seeing as Nightlord's wig had also fallen off when he knocked him over.

"I must admit that was unexpected," Cain chuckled evilly. He looked up at Nightroad who's feet were now suspended above ground. "But, what makes you think you could beat me when he could not? Even if you have more experience you're both the same person in the end. And truthfully, even he can put up a better fight than you." Cain brought Nightroad closer to his face and whispered in his ear. "You can never protect those you love without the help of the crusnik. That's why the kid is better than you. He allows his anger to fuel him on."

"And just how would you know that?" Nightroad hissed. His hand slowly reached for the gun hidden inside his coat. He pushed away the fabric and his fingers finally met the cold metal and wrapped around it. He slowly pulled it out. All the while he continued firing insults at his brother and tried wiggling out of his grasp. "I'm not like you Cain! And neither is the brat!"

"Is that so? Nightlord is more like me than he is you. If something angers him enough he'll activate the crusnik to protect himself and those he cares about. Just like how I would do the same for you, should you ever want something or be in danger."

"I want nothing Cain!" Nightroad cocked his gun and pulled the trigger in a fluid motion. The bullet never reached Cain; instead it had stopped in midair.

Glancing at the bullet Cain smirked and clucked his tongue. "You think something like that will hurt me?" He threw back his head and began laughing, his free hand flicked up sending the bullet back into the barrel of the gun. It exploded in Nightroad's hand.

"Damn it."

Cain brought his free hand up to Nightroad's head. He tried moving away but Cain's grip was to tight. Cain's middle finger was pushed up against his thumb. He brought it to Nightroad's forehead and rested it there.

A growl grew in Nightroad's throat. This was the difference between their power level. Cain was always stronger than him. He might have been stronger than Nightlord but compared to Cain he could hardly put up a fight without relying on the crusnik. Cain was right.

He was weak.

"Just tell us why you're really here," Seth barked, stepping out from behind of Asthe. She shook her head telling Asthe it was okay. "We both know you didn't come here just to make sure Abel was okay."

Cain lowered Nightroad as he looked over his shoulder at Seth. He cocked his head to the side in boredom but ignored her. Impassively he turned his cold eyes back on Nightroad. Releasing his thumb his middle finger flicked Nightroad's forehead.

Head shooting back from impact his shirt was ripped from Cain's grip as he was sent hurling toward the crowd. Gasping in shock everyone retreated in different directions allowing him to pass right by them. He came to a stop once he hit the wall. His mask fell off.

Now that that problem was taken care of… Cain finally considered answering Seth's question.

A large smile lit Cain's face as he turned to Seth. It was a fake grin and he had his eyes closed. "First off," he pointed at Esther, "that is the queen's heir to the thrown. The daughter of Prince Gilbert. I got that little information from the one you would call Professor. Apparently he thought I was a student at the university." Cain's smile widened. "And secondly," he looked at the crowd as he said the next part. This time talking much slower as if talking to children, he pointed to Nightroad, "that man used to be contra mundi as he was the enemy of the world at one point."

Cain paused as the crowd erupted into whispers. No one believed what he was saying was true. Nightroad couldn't have been older then twenty and he showed no traits of being a vampire. Besides, how could one man be the enemy of the world? It just didn't make sense.

"Cain don't you dare," both silver heads snarled.

"His name is Abel Nightlord. The first and only emperor of the Empire."

"What?" "Who's that?" "I heard he's supposed to be some sort of vampire." "I thought the Nightlord's were only legends." "If he is a Nightlord then shouldn't we do something?" Little snippets of the conversations traveled throughout the crowd.

"The Nightlords are dead, Cain. No one bares that name anymore, except you!" Seth growled. Part of her was happy Abel was finally exposed; it might mean he would need to return to the empire. But the other part of her knew it was to early for the world to know about him.

"Oh and that guy is him from the past. So if you kill him then naturally the older one will disappear," Cain stated happily.

He shot one last blast toward Nightroad; effectively knocking him unconscious.

Nightlord having noticed this, jumped into action. He snatched Asthe's spear out of her grip and activated it. The green shard lit up and charged a bolt of electricity before releasing all the energy and charged straight at Cain.

Ducking, Cain shot another energy blast at Nightlord. He could barely contain his excitement. It wasn't the fight that had him excited but the fact that the lowly insects now knew about 02. Soon his brother would realize he couldn't trust anyone except him.

Cain dodged another attack and retreated to the back of the ball room. Sending another blast of energy at Nightlord he jumped out of the window. Isaak was waiting for him.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the wait. I had to study for the SAT.


	35. Chapter 35

The people burst into a frenzied uproar. They couldn't believe it! A Nightlord! And to think he was unconscious right in front of them. With him like that they wouldn't have a problem taking care of him. He was the one who killed over half the worlds population. It was his fault the vampires are even here. He should pay for his crimes!

No. Even if they did kill him it would change nothing. They would kill him but they would also kill the time traveler. The nobles of Albion all seemed to have the same thoughts as they looked from Nightroad to Nightlord.

"Abel!" Seth cried worriedly. She ignored the looks she got from the humans as she pushed her way to Nightroad's side.

"Wait Seth." Nightlord tried grabbing her wrist. He noticed the killing intent in each of the humans. He still recognized it from his time back at the UN. It was to strong for him not to recognize. These people would do anything to kill him and the geezer.

Seth shot him a cold glare and slapped his hand away. She didn't care if she put herself in danger. Besides they were only human! She was a crusnik! Seth spun back around and gave the humans an even colder glare.

They all backed away until they remembered what they were going to do. "Get back girl!" one of the nobles yelled. "If you don't want to get hurt, then get away. That man isn't who you think he is."

"You are all fools! You don't even know who Cain was and yet you're listening to him! If he said your queen was a Meh - vampire, would you have believed him? I guess you would since you already believe Abel's a Nightlord!" Seth shouted. She gave the man in front of her a light shove and walked pass him in long strides. She was by Nightroad's side in seconds.

The human's took a step back. They were clearly afraid of him waking up. Nightlord took a careful step forward and the humans took another step back. They all gave him hostile looks. Their attention was divided between Nightroad and Nightlord.

"G-get b-b-back!" another nobel yelled. This one didn't have a mask on. He carefully held a large shard of glass in his hand. He had gotten it from the window Cain had escaped through. The mask-less held the shard in front him as if it were a shield. In his other hand he carefully passed another glass shard to the first man who had spoken. "Take care of him. We can't trust these people." The mask-less Nobel then turned back to Nightlord. Fear was displayed clearly on his face.

Pathetic.

He charged and Nightlord stepped to the side and gave the human a little shove. He caught him right before he fell to the ground. Nightlord brought the man around and glared at him. "You don't know who you're messing with."

"V-vampire! You really are a Nightlord. F-fangs! Y-you have f-f-fangs!"

"The empire is evading!"

"Quick take care of him while he's still unconscious!"

"MOVE IT GIRL!" the first Nobel's shout rang above everyone's voice. He roughly grabbed Seth's hair and pulled her away from Nightroad.

Nightlord snarled in anger. No body hurt his sister and got away with it. Screw the geezer, that man just hurt Seth! Nightlord hurled the man he was holding into the crowd, taking a few humans with it.

"Get the fuck away from them!" he snarled as he entered haste. He appeared in front of the first nobel and caught his hand; only inches away from Nightroad's chest.

The man gasped in surprise and tried taking a step back, only he couldn't because Nightlord still held his hand. "Monster!" he hissed.

Nightlord narrowed his eye at the man and towered above him. His grip tightened on the man's hand, causing it to close around the glass shard. A few drops of blood dripped from his fingers. He snarled at the man, showing off his fangs. "Simple minded idiots," Nightlord muttered. He managed to get control of his temper and dropped the human onto the floor. His lips curled up in disgust as the man peed himself.

Suddenly the scent of blood hit him. Nightlord whipped around to see someone else plunge a pocket knife into Nightroad's abdomen.

Nightroad woke up instantly. His eyes shot open, dilated in pain. They locked onto the offending human. Fear… there was fear in his eyes, Nightlord noticed. Before he could do anything Nightroad punched the man in the jaw; it cracked and dislocated at the same time. The human flew back and dropped to the ground… dead.

All was silent for a while. And then- "Kill him!" the shout echoed through the room.

More fear clouded Nightroad's eyes. He was scared of the humans. The race he had promised to protect. Cain was right, he was weak. The human's now knew about him. With that information they could ruin everything he had lived for. They could destroy all of Caterina's hard work.

Nightroad scooted himself closer to the wall. The knife, still in his stomach, caused him to gasp. He grabbed it with a shaky hand and pulled it out. Blood gushed out of the wound, but it quickly clotted and healed. No matter how old he got, he would never understand humans. They were so quick to judge and hated what they wouldn't control or understand.

Methuselah, though from the same origin as humans, were different. They didn't hate the unexplainable… though that could have just been because Seth had been leading them and none of them had gone face to face with a crusnik…

Pain suddenly exploded through his skull as a human aimed a punch at him then followed up with a kick to his still injured stomach. Abel gasped in shocked pain and looked at the pathetic human. More jumped at him, all attacking him without any coordination.

Mumbling a few complaints to whatever higher power, Pope Gregorio had forced him to believe in, Abel made a feeble attempt to protect himself from the weak attacks. He couldn't really do anymore without harming the terrans. And he didn't want to kill another one… He wasn't like Cain! He wasn't!

The attacks got stronger and stronger. Punch, kick, slice, punch. Over and over again. If it wasn't for his current situation he would be wondering why the ter-humans had thought it okay to bring weapons to a ball. He distantly remembered someone shooting at him with a gun a couple times but then the brat had taken care of it.

Nightroad flinched as he tried retreating from the attacks. He didn't like being surrounded by a bunch of terrans. It reminded him of his time in the UN. Always being trapped by scientist, poked and prodded by needles. A rat, nothing but a damned lab rat with no rights. Nothing.

Nightroad slapped away a hand holding a knife and caught it, slowly standing up. He could feel the crusnik trying to urge him forward to kill the terrans. He almost gave into it, but he didn't. He planned on keeping his promise to Lilith, even if he felt like stabbing each damned terran in this room. Minus the people who didn't attack him; which was only Leon and Esther.

"Took you long enough, geezer. I was beginning to think you enjoyed getting beat up," Nightlord said. He was knocking out some of the terrans with a smooth chop to the neck.

Not bothering to look at the brat, Nightroad quickly threw the knife at him. The brat caught it with ease and sent a glare at him. Thankfully he got the message. 'Don't mess with me right now.'

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait. Didn't expect it to take that long. And I honestly have no clue what I was thinking when I wrote this. Nightroad isn't exactly cooperating with me, so sorry if that last part seemed a bit unlike him.

Please review, it'll really help me get the next chapter up sooner.


	36. Chapter 36

"Weak, weak, weak," Nightroad clucked. He phased in front of another terran and quickly took care of her. Another one approached him from behind but he simply elbowed the man, sending him flying back. He was taking his sweat old time dealing with these weakling. Nightroad wasn't the one attacking first to begin with. They were just too blind to see he only attacked those who attacked him first, and blamed him for beating up all their companions.

Ah, damn it. His mind shot back to the terran he had just killed. Sooooo, maybe they did have a right to be mad at him. But still, that guy attacked him first. Whatever happened to self defense? No, no, no. It was his fault. He shouldn't be making up pathetic excuses. He should have known better. Yeah, Nightlord's temper was definitely rubbing off on him. Or, it was just him… After all, Nightroad had been acting a lot like the brat when he had shrunk…

Caterina was going to kill him, and if she didn't than he was sure Asthe would be more then glad to do it for her.

"Think he'll stop soon?" Nightlord whispered to Seth. He had stopped knocking out the terrans a while back. Now he stood by Seth's side, watching his older counterpart reck havoc.

Leon was gapping at the man he had often teased and found relatively weak. Never in all the years he had known the four-eyed priest did he think, he was actually capable of such power and brute strength. On top of that he was really some ancient vampire emperor! Leon turned to Nightlord when he heard him whispering to Seth. "That's not the klutz I know," Leon muttered.

"Do you think he's okay? Maybe we should try stopping him," Esther spoke up, as worried as usual.

"No, he won't stop until the human's stop first. Abel isn't a klutz, it was an act. He's fine, his wound already healed. And yes, we should probably stop him, but if we do… I have a feeling he'll be yelling at me until this whole thing has been settled," Seth answered each question in order.

"I don't think he'd yell at you," Nightlord muttered. Seth gave him a questioning look. "Because I wouldn't," he answered the unasked question. "I think he's more likely to lock himself in a room and mentally beat himself up for picking on the weak, then starve himself, and then blame everything on Cain."

"Is that really what you would do?" Esther asked, completely caught off guard. That didn't sound like what Father Nightroad would do. And it definitely didn't sound like something Nightlord would do.

"No. I'd lock myself in a room and go through a long list of swear words, then act like everything was okay," Nightlord answered. "The geezer's way of thinking is off and he blames himself for a lot of stuff, that's why his actions sound a little suicidal."

"And how do you act like everything is okay?" Leon questioned, giving Nightlord a quizzical look. He was half expecting him to say: 'joke around, and trip over my own feet.'

Nightlord raised an eyebrow. He glanced at Leon, only to see the human watching the fight. Sighing he said, "figure that out yourself." He had told everyone enough about himself in the past five minutes. To much if you asked him. He didn't need people knowing his behaviors, and what to look for when he was possibly angry with something

Leon huffed but didn't take his eyes off the fight. They were all forced to move back as the fight got closer to them. Only a hand full of terrans had retreated from the fight. This group being made up of females and a couple male, humans. They were however still cheering on the other humans and would gasp or wince when one of the men got knocked out.

Nightlord took a step back as a human came barreling toward him with his fist flying. Before Nightlord could so much as put up his hands in defense, Nightroad had grabbed the man's collar and threw him on the ground.

Nightroad dodged a bullet aimed at him. A few silver strands of hair drifted to the ground. Growling, Nightroad launched himself at the terran and sent him hurling into the ground. Another terran wielding a knife and one with no weapons at all yelled in anger and both charged at him. Nightroad caught both of their hands.

"Why don't we stop this?" he growled at them. He almost flinched at the sound of his own voice. It sounded cold, like the crusnik's voice.

"You just killed half the nobel's hear! You think we'll drop this matter just because you asked?"

"Killed? I haven't killed anyone." Nightroad forcefully turned the two humans to look at their unconscious comrades. "Except that worthless te-human who stabbed me. Really though, it was self defense. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?" he growled. He could taste a hint of blood on his tongue as his fangs tried lengthening.

"Release them!"

Nightroad looked up from the two terrans in his grip. An elderly women was pointing a gun straight at his head. Blood trickled down from her forehead. Abel distinctly remembered knocking her out a few terrans ago. Eyeing the lady, Nightroad did as he was told.

A flash of discolored skin caught his eye. The both of the terran's wrists were bruised in the shape of his hand. What was wrong with him? This wasn't like him at all. Perhaps Cain's words affected him more than he thought they did.

"Now get back," the lady said shakily.

Sighing, Nightroad did just that. If he listened then maybe they could just stop this fighting already. The two terrans ran behind the lady when they noticed Nightroad backing away.

One by one the terrans were slowly waking up. Those who weren't frozen in fear either retreated or grabbed a few discarded weapons before running up to the lady's side. Some of them were trying to wake up the rest of the unconscious terrans. No one was within a one yard radius of the dead body. Abel noticed that they refused to even look at it.

'Should I let them hit me, or should I dodge them…' Nightroad thought to himself. The terran's holding guns were all aiming it at him. Those without guns grabbed anything they could get their hands on and went into a throwing position. 'Or maybe retreat… But I need to do something so they don't think I'm a Nightlord.'

XXX

Virgil had just delivered the queen back to her chambers. Mary Spencer was with her, leaving Virgil to deal with their unwelcome guest. Hopefully they could put a stop to this and finally cure his Queen of that ghastly disease.

Unfortunately for him he could still remember the screams of torment that had come from the Queens chambers. It still haunted him, every night he had made it his duty to make sure she was okay before finally falling into a restless sleep. Sometimes the queen would be sleeping and it was obvious she was in great pain. It made him feel hopeless since he could do nothing to stop it.

However with the help of the vatican and the empire maybe now he would finally be of some use to someone. Virgil opened the door to the ball room. A small wave of regret washed over him as he remembered retreating not to long ago. Hopefully it wasn't to late.

Stepping into the room, the sight was not at all what he had expected it to be. Over half of the Nobel's of Londinium where littering the ground. By the position of a few of them, he could tell they had a broken leg or arm. Small flecks of red were among the unconscious Nobel's, but he could tell none of them were dead. Or at least he hoped not.

Among those that were still conscious was lady Seth, the Duchess, Father Leon and Sister Esther, and Brit-Brat- Brant… yeah that sounded like it. His name was supposed to be Abel Nightroad… Virgil had a feeling that was a lie. Something about Father Nightroad's parents and Brant's parents naming them the same thing as a joke…

_Flashback_

_"I'm sorry but I never quite caught your name," Virgil said to the second silver haired man he had ever met. He was just about to leave but it didn't feel right doing so if he didn't even know the names of the people he was working with. _

_"Ni-" _

_The man was caught off when Father Nightroad put a hand to his mouth. Virgil didn't miss the slightly panicked look in his eyes. It was gone so fast, to be replaced by… irritation? Just as quickly as his face changed expressions, his cousin had bit his hand. Sending his own glare at Father Nightroad. _

_"What was that for, Geezer?" he yelled. It was obvious to Virgil that these two didn't get along well. _

_Nightroad flinched at the accusation. His eyes darted from his cousin to Virgil and back again. Sheepishly he put up the hand he had used to stop his cousin from saying his name; his right hand. "There was a fly…" he answered somewhat timidly. _

_When Virgil looked, there was indeed the guts of a fly on his palm. It also struck him as odd, that his palm wasn't bleeding. He might have been suppressing his vampirism by taking in drugs, but Virgil's sense of smell was still much stronger than a humans. He was certain he smelt blood. Virgil just shrugged it off, it wouldn't be the first time the drugs had dulled his senses more than it was supposed to._

_"Whatever," Father Nightroad's cousin said coldly. He crossed his arms over his chest, and with grace, he fluidly backed as far away from the priest as he could get. Virgil hadn't even seen him move his feet, but he had indeed moved from his position in front of Nightroad. _

_"Anyway, his name's Brant," Nightroad spoke up again. He seemed to shoot a warning glare at… Brant. If Virgil hadn't spent much of his time with other people and studying their behaviors, he was sure he wouldn't have caught it. _

_"Brant!? Really?" Brant snapped. He pointed an accusing finger at Father Nightroad. "If I'm Brant then your name is Gees Or Nightroad!" _

_"Geese? Like the bird? And what's up with 'or?' Is that my middle name now?" Father Nightroad asked. Virgil could tell he was playing dumb, the man obviously knew what Brant- or what ever his name was- was talking about. Was there some kind of inside joke here? Brant… brat… Geezer… okay, so Nightroad was older than Brant, but the difference in age must have been by only a few months, with how they both looked to be twenty. _

_Brant sighed loudly. He roughly scratched his head, disheveling his already messy hair. "Idiot," he mumbled, Virgil was barely able to pick it up. Louder he said, "our… parents thought it would be funny to name us the same thing. My name is Abel Nightroad just like his." This kid was a bad liar. "We don't like calling each other by our own name. So whenever we're together we usually make up a name for the other," Brant said. "You can call me whatever you want, just not Nightroad. I don't want to be mixed up with a priest." There was a hint of disdain in his voice. _

_"Okay, I'll call you Brant then," Virgil said, cooly. _

_End flashback _

Virgil shook himself out of his thoughts. Whatever Brant's real name was, it didn't matter. Brant had given him the right to call him whatever he wanted, and he planned on doing just that. Calling two people Abel would get to be confusing, even if he called Father Nightroad by his title and not by his first name.

Walking further into the room, Virgil swept his eyes over the havoc. There was only one other group who weren't involved in the scuffle. It was composed of only the female human Nobel's. A couple of them looked like they wanted to be involved in the fight, but it seemed their dance partners had told them not to. Virgil's eyes finally landed on the fight taking course in the corner of the room. It was slowly moving toward the shattered glass windows.

Hesitantly he approached Brant and his group. He only made it halfway across the dance floor. A small gap between the people participating in the fight caught his eye. They were all attacking Father Nightroad! And he seemed to be holding up pretty well by himself. Blood stained his white dress coat. It was ragged and barely holding onto his thin frame… but the closer he looked, the more he realized the priest wasn't injured at all. A knife came flying out of no where, aimed at Nightroad's head. He just cocked it to the side, but the knife still sliced his cheek.

Virgil blinked. He was dumb struck. The man hadn't even flinched! He just continued beating the Nobel's senseless. The fighting suddenly stopped. Nightroad had grabbed two mens hands. He snarled a few words at them, but Virgil wasn't listening. His attention on the priest's cheek. The cut, it was gone.

Numbly, Virgil took a step forward. He needed answers. This man wasn't human; he must have been enhanced. Whatever he was, he was beating all of Londinium's Nobels. The humans and even a few methuselah were all being beaten by him.

By the time Virgil had finally snapped out of his stupor the tides had changed. Nightroad had taken a few steps back. He didn't look like he wanted to hurt anyone, but it didn't look like the feeling was mutual for the other people. They all looked like they wanted nothing more than to end him. All of their cold eyes sent shivers up Virgil's spine.

What had happened between the time he was tending to the queen and now? What happened to that blond haired man?

Suddenly the woman holding the gun was recoiling back from the shock of shooting a gun. The bullet was sent spiraling towards Father Nightroad. "Die Nightlord!" someone shouted.

Virgil almost gasped in shock, instead he quickly composed himself and went over the information he had just received. Time seemed to slow as he finally came up with a half formulated conclusion. He was still thinking things over as he entered (a much slower form of) haste. Before he knew it, he was tackling Nightroad to the ground. The bullet whizzed past his head and only missed by a few centimeters.

"Sorry," Virgil said quickly. He jumped off of Nightroad and extended a hand to help the man up. Nightroad didn't take it, opting to get up by himself… in a sort of flipping manner. Nightroad seemed almost like a methuselah at the moment.

Nightroad's posture was relaxed but his eyes darted from person to person. Only sparing half a second to glance at each of them. It then swept over the room and took in all the detail. "What don't you people get, when I say I don't want to fight?" Nightroad barked. He crossed his arms over his chest and turned his head to the humans, but his eyes were still darting over the room.

His eyes looked rimmed with red, but Virgil passed it off as a trick of lights.

This was all so confusing. Shrinking, drugs, screwed up excuse of a game, orden, cousins who looked to alike to be nothing but twins, Nightlord… This was just to much. Virgil literally felt like pulling out his hair right now. Nothing made any sense and no one was giving him straight answers.

The elder woman loaded her gun and aimed it straight at Father Nightroad. Virgil's muscles tensed, ready to push him out of the way again.

"Just die already, Nightlord!" the woman sent out a round of bullets. At the same moment Virgil leapt forward; at the same time Father Nightroad pushed him away, sending him sprawling on the ground. When Virgil looked up, Nightroad coughed up blood. Hacking he slumped his back, as if to ease the pain.

"Father, why? How?" Virgil asked, somehow managing to keep his voice calm despite the scattered ideas.

"This isn't your fight." Nightroad said simply, bypassing the second question. He looked back to the group who was trying to kill him, his eyes swept over each person before landing on the woman. She was shaking fiercely, and by the looks of the gun she had run out of bullets. Either that or she didn't notice the chamber empty so she didn't reload it. "I'm so dead," Nightroad mumbled to himself.

Who was this man? When he had shrunk Abel had seemed like kid who didn't trust anyone. There was kindness around him but there was also a type of coldness that made everyone back away from him, then there was the fact he had an air of control and power. Then in the ship Abel had acted purely like a happy drunk… Except for when he talked to Brant. Was it even possible that he could really be Lord Nightlord? It would explain a lot as to his change in demeanor. Virgil watched the man carefully as he straightened. Abel's face was a mask of pure anger with a hint of fear. However his eyes said he was sad. Despite his strong posture, even that looked a bit sad.

Nightroad moved into a less hostel look. He sighed and shook his head, suddenly looking much older than the mere twenty he seemed to be. "Stop spouting threats you can't deliver. You've tried killing me and it hasn't worked. Unless you want to try something new, I'm leaving," Abel said to the Nobels. He scratched the back of his neck in a bored way. "And I'm not Nightlord. If I was don't you think I would have killed you all by now?" he pointed out bluntly. Sighing again, he turned and headed toward the window. He didn't even look at his companions, not wanting to cause them trouble. In a few seconds he was by the window and jumped down.

A few moments passed in relative silence. The only noise being made was by the injured as they moaned.

"Who agrees that that wasn't Four-eyes?" Leon suddenly broke the deathly silence.

Seth, Asthe, Esther and the Brant kid all looked at him incredulously. It was the Brant kid who spoke next. "Father Garcia, you're-"

The kid was caught off suddenly by the sound of a gun going off. A few bullets were on course for the kid. All shot by that old lady. Virgil entered haste once more, it was tiring him out and he knew he wouldn't make it but still…

The bullets whizzed passed Virgil but it only fueled him on. The kid had pushed lady Seth away, from a stray bullet. It lodged itself for the wall, but that didn't stop the other bullets from advancing toward Brant. Virgil leapt. Hot white pain shot through his back, but he ignored it as he shoved Brant out of the way.

Whipping around to look at the humans, Virgil glared at them. "What are you doing? They're guests here, seise fire at once!"

A gasp sounded behind him. Turning, Virgil saw Brant with a bullet lodged in his shoulder and another in his rib cage. Brant's gasps where echoed by a screech from out side the room. Virgil dismissed the thought on the screech. However he was forced away from the kid when another gun shot sounded.

Virgil moved to grab the kid. At this point their only option was to retreat. He reached down to grab Brant but Asthe beat him to it. Without thinking Virgil whipped around and grabbed the nearest terran- Esther. He turned toward Leon and Seth with a questioning look. Seth shook her head. By unspoken command he grabbed Esther and Seth grabbed Leon.

* * *

**A/N:** I really don't know how Virgil is supposed to act, so sorry if I got his character wrong. This chapter was harder than I thought it was going to be. Mostly because of the Virgil reason. Anyway, if you're reading this please review!


	37. Chapter 37

A screech escaped Nightroad's mouth. He quickly bit down on his lip to stop himself from yelling in pain. The edges of his vision was lined in black. Nightroad looked down at himself, he didn't look injured, and all of his wounds he had received from that little scuffle had already healed.

It felt as though something had lodged itself right in his spine, past his rib cage. There was also a small sting in his shoulder, but it didn't hurt enough to warrant concern. Nightroad tried twisting his back, only for the pain to spike up. Taking a deep breath, Nightroad leaned against the wall of the palace using his uninjured shoulder.

After jumping out of the window he had snuck around the palace until he was at the doors to the entrance. Hiding himself in the shadows he waited for his friends. A minute passed before the door finally opened. Asthe was the first one out. She was running in haste and stopped a few yard away from the entrance. She was carrying- Nightlord… he should have known.

A painful chuckle escaped Nightroad's lips. He saw Asthe look up sharply in his direction. At first she looked angry… and then concerned? He wasn't certain. The blackness consumed his vision and he fell into oblivion.

XXX

Nightroad woke up early the next day, blinking dazedly into light that filtered through the window. Wait, window? That was enough to cause Nightroad to jolt himself fully awake. But he quickly regretted it when pain shot up his spine. It had numbed somewhat, from the night before, but it still hurt for some reason. He guessed it must have been because the brat hadn't fully healed yet.

But back to the topic, where was he? Nightroad looked around the small room he was in, careful not to twist his back in anyway. He took in ever detail of the room. To be simple it was green. Seth's room. Nightroad instantly calmed. Well, that would explain the window.

Abel pulled himself out of bed, glancing sidelong at the alarm clock on the bedside table as he went. It was past nine which meant he had been sleeping for at least eight hours. The ball was supposed to have been until midnight, but he guessed the fight had probably lasted for a bit longer than an hour. Ruefully he forced himself to take a sip of the blood Seth had left by the clock. Unsurprisingly the pain in his back didn't subside. If it was the kid who was really injured it would only make sense that anything he did wouldn't help.

There goes any hopes he had of beating the kid senseless.

"Finally, you're up!" Seth yelled, causing Abel to jump which then resulted in a sharp pain from his back. She chuckled at his predicament as he glared at her. "I don't think I've ever seen you jump so high before."

"You should see me at the vatican," Nightroad said, dropping his glare and smirking right back at her. "I can't help but be edgy whenever Francesco's there."

Seth frowned. "That guy's a creep. Ever since he became a cardinal he's been causing so much trouble for me. He'd accuse methuselah for crimes they didn't commit. His favorite excuse would be that one of my children crossed the border and ended up in vatican territory. Doesn't he realize the empire and vatican don't share the same borders? If it was a methuselah than it was probably a rogue… I swear he trying everything in his power to find a reason to go to war with us! If it weren't for Cardinal Caterina I would have done it for him."

"Even when I'm there?" Nightroad asked. Of course Seth answered in the negative; enthralled that he would even think that. "So why am I here exactly?" Nightroad interrupted, getting back to the point.

"Abel, you just injured almost all of albion's Nobel's!" Seth exclaimed. "You're lucky Virgil doesn't plan on turning you in! You're in my room because-"

"Virgil?" It took Nightroad a moment to realize the man had seen part of the fight. Oh yeah, he was so screwed. Now his secret was down the gutter for sure. Caterina was going to kill him. Nightroad moaned loudly, partly from the pain and partly from the discussion that was sure to come. "Is he here?"

"Yes, he is."

Nightroad looked up to see Virgil by the door way. How could his sister have forgotten to lock the door and close it? Oh, how he wanted to scream in a pillow right now. To bad his back hurt with every turn he made, other wise he would have done just that. Instead he opted for slapping a hand to his face and moaning softly. This week officially sucked. The only thing that could make it even worse was if Caterina caught wind of all that had happened here, and knowing his luck she'd receive news of this… today…

"You're him, aren't you? Lord Nightlord?" Virgil interrupted Nightroad's thoughts. Nightroad shot Seth a look as he dropped his hand, just what had she told this poor man?

"Hey don't look at me. I didn't give him that idea." Seth held up her hands and raised an eyebrow. "The Nobel's weren't exactly keeping quiet. It was them who were advertising that you were a Nightlord, not me." She winked, "but I might just have to take advantage of this. You know your always welcomed at the empire. I'm sure the empress would understand."

Nightroad glared at his sister. Even when his secret was down the gutter hers wasn't and she planned on keeping it that way. And she just had to make it worse by saying that little bit in front of Virgil. Now he had no hope of convincing the man he really wasn't a Nightlord.

"Not going to happen," Nightroad mumbled.

Seth shook her head and rolled her eyes. "If you say so," she said in teasing tones that caused Nightroad to think she had planned something else. "I need to check on… the kid, he has a bullet lodged in his spine."

No wonder it hurt each time he moved.

"Anyway," Nightroad turned back to Virgil. Then for what seemed like the hundredth time this week he told the man the truth. Virgil took the information calmly, not even interrupting his explanation once. 'He seems a lot like Esther," Nightroad thought as he continued with the whole priest thing. 'He's not acting like Asthe or Leon did when they found out. Thank God for that.' Nightroad sighed when he was finally done, "now you can believe me or not, but that's the truth," he ended.

"But not the whole truth," Virgil sighed with a nod. "Don't worry I won't ask, but I believe you." Virgil looked about ready to leave but gave Nightroad a questioning look before he left. Abel understood the meaning of it. The man wasn't sure if he needed help getting up or not. Since Virgil now thought he was the emperor (which Abel strongly said he wasn't, but Virgil still didn't seem like he believed that one bit) he felt oblidged to help Nightroad since he was injured. But seeing as he was 'the emperor,' straight out asking if Nightroad needed help or not would be seen as rude.

"You know, I'm not going to be offended if you just asked," Nightroad said. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and shakily stood, trying to keep his back as straight as possible. Virgil looked hesitant but finally opened his mouth, however Nightroad beat him to it. "Mind helping me?"

"Of course!" Virgil answered a little to quickly. He was by Nightroad's side within seconds put his hand over his shoulder. The two began making their way to infirmary.

When they finally arrived, Nightlord was on his stomach. The bullet had entered from the front and had actually gone through the rib cage. The wound had already closed but the bullet was still stuck in his spine. As they walked further into the room, they could hear the brat growling something or another about how much 'the geezer' was going to tease him for this.

"That's a great idea," Nightroad suddenly interrupted the kids rant. He allowed Virgil to help him into a chair. He smirked at the kid who had to turn his head to the other side of the room to see him. "What kind of idiot gets shot in the front anyway? Didn't you see it coming?" Nightroad asked in teasing tones. Virgil raised an eyebrow at the change in manner. Fortunately for him he didn't need to listen to the two Abel's any longer for Esther had gone up to him to ask him a few questions. They moved out of the room.

"If I moved the bullet would have hit Seth!" Nightlord screamed. He pushed himself up, only to drop to the bed and moan. He didn't miss the flinch that crossed the geezers face.

"Okay, fine. Now stop moving around," Nightroad growled. He reached over and tapped the kid on the back, right where he felt the pain in his own back. "Is it here?"

"Yeah…"

Nightroad sighed. I think I can get it out for you. Want to give it a shot?"

Nightlord thought for a while before muttering a, 'fine geezer.' Nightroad took a deep breath, bracing himself for the pain. The kid did the same. Allowing his claws to grow, Nightroad pierced the kids flesh. When it scrapped the bullet they both gasped. Not wanting the pain to last any longer, Nightroad grabbed the bullet between the claws of his thumb and forefinger. Since it was lodged between the bone, he was forced to push it back into the kids rib cage and make the hole in his back bigger to get it out- away from his spine. As soon as the bullet was out the wound quickly healed and the pain in both of their backs disappeared.

XXX

For once in all his life Virgil was at loss for words. His mouth gapped open. After learning who Father Nightroad really was he didn't think his life could have gotten any better. Much less in the time of just a day. The legitimate daughter of prince Gilbert was right in front of him.

"Lord Walsh, are you okay?" the girl- no, princess asked. "Is there anything you know about this?" she looked uncertain, as if she were about to get laughed at.

"Please, just Virgil. It's true that the prince had a child before he was killed. That child was sent over seas about seventeen years ago. We'd need to do some research, but it's quite possible you're that child," Virgil answered. Who was he kidding, there was no doubt she was related to the queen in some way. The red hair, blue eyes, both were traits of her parents. The similarities were to much to be over looked.

"What would happen if I really am related to the queen in some way?" Esther asked with a bit more confidence.

"You would be asked to return to Albion of course," Virgil said. He was struggling to regain his composure, finding himself trying to find the right words even as he spoke.

"Do you think I'm really- really…"

"-The princess?" Virgil raised an eyebrow. He wanted to say yes! He wanted to scream it! But the point was he didn't want to give the girl false hopes, just incase she really wasn't the princess. "I don't know," he said at last. Esther's frown didn't go missed. "Prince Gilbert looked a lot like you, the eyes, the hair. I'd say the chances are high, but I don't want to give you false information."

XXX

About an hour later both Abels had decided to put their anger to good use. Thanks to Seth's suggestion (more like order, she had gotten tired of their yelling) they were now in an open field trying to beat the crap out of each other. Well one Abel was trying to beat the stuffings out of the other while the other opted to dodging and name calling. It didn't help any that that Abel also kept giving the other tips, thus further hurting his already bruised ego.

"You suck!"

**BANG**

"Missed," **bang**, "missed," **crash,** "MISSED!"

**Bam**

"How do you expect to beat anyone if you can't even hit them?"

**Thud**

"Ouch, that must have hurt…" Nightroad winced as the kid pushed himself away from the large tree he had just barreled into.

"Would you just keep still!" Nightlord roared. This whole time the crusnik had been activated to just a little below fourty. Enough so that his hair didn't flow up.

"Let me think about it… NOPE."

**Slam**

"Even a blind methuselah could aim better than you."

**Bam **

"You might actually have a chance if you activated the crusnik farther."

**Blast**

"Wow, you really suck at this."

**Bang**

"Nananana-nana-nana can't touch me!"

**Clang**

*Sigh*

***Roar* **

"I'm bored!"

**Thunderclap**

"Hey! I didn't say activate the crusnik to eighty percent!"

**ZAP**

* * *

**A/N:** Yeah, it was a boring chapter. Sorry for the obvious filler chapter, hopefully the next will be better.

I really don't know how I'm going to end up ending this story anymore. It took on a life of it's own, so we'll just have to see. Who knows, I might just bring it back to it's original outline or it might continue on its current path.

**Jesuka:** Hope you don't mind if I take after you and ask someone for the next chapter bluntly. I'll need to try it sometime. And sorry for the un-dark Abel in this chapter... except for maybe the beginning part... But I just couldn't help myself with the last part.

**Mokat:** Nightroad was in full control of everything he was doing. He was upset and angry at Cain for telling the humans who he really was. When the humans decided to attack him it reminded him of his time back at the UN, thus he lashed out in a crusnik like manner. So no, it wasn't the crusnik who was attacking. Did I get that right? I hope you get it now.

**Flame800900**: Yes, writing Virgil was really hard. I felt like I was butchering his character while writing from his point. That's partly why I took more effort into describing things than I usually do.

Review please, bitte, onegai, 'olu 'olu. Thank you!


	38. Chapter 38

"Are you okay tovarish?" Asthe questioned. She raised an eyebrow at the priest who had a slight limp to his step. He was glaring fiercely at Nightlord who had a wicked grin on his face. Nightroad didn't seem to even notice her as he walked to the nearest couch and slumped down into it. "Okay, what happened?" Asthe barked her question, feeling more than irritated that he was ignoring her.

Finally Nightroad acknowledged her existence and looked up. His gaze filled with annoyance she'd only ever seen when he had shrunk. He huffed and leaned back with an arm across his eyes, not bothering to answer her question.

Asthe was just about ready to hit him over the head for being rude. Lucky for him Nightlord said something. "We had a spar and I won," Nightlord declared.

Asthe gave Nightlord a look as if saying 'Uh-huh…' then she looked back at Nightroad. The leg of his pants was bloodied. "We should bandage that up," she asserted. She moved to take a look at it, but Nightroad moved it away from her grasp. "It's still injured isn't it?" Asthe growled, frustrated with his attitude. What was his excuse this time? 'Nightlord hit my head so I got amnesia again?' There was no reason for him to be so rude!

"It's already healed," he mumbled. Since everyone knew about him, he didn't see a reason to prevent the crusnik from healing his wounds as fast as it could. Plus even if it was injured he didn't want Asthe to be dealing with his blood. "By the way," he looked up at Nightlord who still had a smug look on his face, "if I had activated to the same level as you, you would have been done for within a minute. You still need more practice."

"I still beat you. Just admit it old man, you're getting rusty-"

Nightlord was cut off when his older version hurled a punch straight at his face sending him into a wall. Asthe gasped at the fast movement, that had definitely been haste. This would take some getting used to- But she still didn't believe they were the same person. Nightroad was just too un-methuselah like to be a Nightlord. Now Nightlord on the other hand, she could believe. After all he was still young so he had a lot of room for change.

"I dare you to say that to my face?" Nightroad challenged, leaning over Nighlord's prone form. "Seems anything that isn't life threatening doesn't back fire," he said, noting how his own face didn't feel like it had just gotten punched. A feral grin spread over his face.

"Rusty. Old. Man." Nightlord barked back. He lashed out his legs in a scissor like motion. Planning to trip Nightroad but the geezer simply jumped away.

Something between a growl and sigh escaped Nightroad's lips. He shook his head in defeat and backed away from the kid. Nightroad had officially settled the kid into a category of his own. Nightlord: bratty, annoyance, stubborn. Once the brat set his mind on something he was unlikely to give up. Figuring that it was best to just ignore the brat, Nightroad did just that and walked away.

He didn't get far however because Esther and Virgil both entered the common area. Esther was asking the man a bunch of questions which he was tried to answer but before he could complete his whole explanation the nun had already started running off another list of questions. The poor man must have been at least ten questions behind from the current question she was asking.

Fortunately for Virgil when they both entered the room, Esther had stopped to consider the look on Father Nightroad's face, giving him some time to catch his breath and consider his next answer.

"Father Nightroad are you okay?" Esther asked. Nightroad's frown turned into a confused look. "You seem upset about something," she quickly explain.

He blinked at her explanation not even realizing he had looked troubled until she said something. "Oh, just thinking about a few things," he answered cheerily. "Though I must ask, just what kind of interrogation where you putting Lord Walsh through to get him like this?" Nightroad motioned to Virgil.

Esther looked shocked and quickly gave Virgil and apologetic look. Father Nightroad had always been a mysterious figure in her life and tended to be blunt with a few things; she saw no reason for that to change now. Even if she now knew more about Abel's past she didn't see why his personality would change because of it. Thus she didn't catch the slight hint of sarcasm in his question about Virgil.

"I was um- just asking him a few things about Prince Gilbert," Esther chuckled uncomfortably.

Nightroad's eyes widened. He had totally forgotten what else had been apart of Cain's announcement. Quickly covering his surprise he smiled at the girl and went to one knee with a hand placed over his heart. "Congratulations princess," he said, truly happy for her.

"Please don't bow to me. We don't even know if what that man said was true," Esther sputtered.

Standing Nightroad shook his head. "Cain got his information from William. In all the time I've known the professor he's never made a false announcement like this. Sure some of his inventions don't turn out as planned but in cases like these I'm inclined to believe him. Plus he most likely used lost technology and configured it a bit before testing it out. Lost technology is much more accurate than the tech we have now days."

"Father Nightroad whose Cain? I mean, I know he's that man who we met at the ball but how do you know him on a first name bases?" Esther asked. She led the way back into the common room and grabbed a few drinks from the kitchen.

Nightroad followed her with Virgil right on his tail. "He's um, he's my…."

"Brother," Nightlord seemingly appeared out of no where and helped Esther carry a few of the drinks into the control room.

"He's not. He's an insane power hungry idiot. My brother died ages ago," Nightroad growled, he sat at the nearest couch and poured himself a cup of tea, putting his usual thirteen spoons full of sugar in it.

"Why the hell are you saying that? Cain's alive! Sure he might be a bit out of it, but he's still my brother, and nothing you say can change my mind about him!" Nightlord snapped. He whipped around and headed for the door.

"I wish that was it. You have no clue what he did after…"

"After what?!" Nightlord whipped back around, he ignored the shaking in the geezers voice and the way he closed in on himself. He hated it when people talked poorly about his siblings or Lilith. Even if that man was him from the future it gave him no right to talk about Cain as if he murdered the world's human population.

"Nothing," Nightroad whispered, his voice hoarse. A long moment passed in silence until Nightroad shook himself from his semi false state of shock. "Anyway, we should probably plan what to do next," he said in a dull tone. Even as he spoke anyone could tell that he wasn't really there right now, he was in his memories of the past. "Knowing my luck Caterina has probably received news about the Nightlord incident."

Right on cue Seth stuck her head into the room. "Abel, Cardinal Caterina's on the projector. She wants to talk to you, she seems upset…"

"Which one?" both Abel's asked. It sounded weird thanks to the fact Nightroad's voice was dull and sarcastic sounding while Nightlord's voice was filled with anger.

"Both actually. I think she got a video of the incident so she knows Nightlord… the kid, exists."

"Joy," Nightroad sighed. Setting the tea cup on the coffee table he pushed himself off the couch. Before leaving he fished out a small piece of paper from his pocket and passed it to Esther and Virgil. "Cain gave this to me before I got knocked unconscious when the brat was on his death bed. Apparently he plans on using you in one of his next plans. I'm not sure if all he planed on doing was announcing you are related to the Queen or something more but it's safe to be careful," he spoke softly to Esther, then turned to Virgil. "Can you send me a blueprint of the data cube and the original letters you received from the orden? I think they might be another part of the blueprint to a time machine to get the brat back to his time."

"Hurry up Nightroad! Caterina doesn't appreciate waiting!" Seth called from down the hall.

"I'll make a copy as possible," Virgil said quickly a Nightroad turned to walk away.

"Okay, I'm coming!" Nightroad called as he nodded to Virgil and ran into the hall. He turned a corner and went into the planning room. Nightlord and Seth were both there, with Caterina staring at Nightlord through the screen with an amused look on her face. This couldn't be good.

"Nice of you to join us Abel," Caterina said, finally turning to look at Nightroad. "Do you have anything you wish tell me? Or shall I tell you what's bothering me?" Despite her calm smile all three crusniks could tell Caterina was only acting civil because Seth and Nightlord were in the room.

"N-no, not really… I can't think of anything I would want to tell you," Nightroad denied. It was true, he really didn't want to tell her anything. It wasn't like she didn't know what happened anyway. He flinched at the cold glare Caterina gave him. If she didn't kill him the paper work that was bound to come would. He inwardly groaned, even tons of paper work was better than what will happen once Francesco found out.

"Then let me spell it out for you," Caterina began, rather coldly. "You're an ancient emperor, and you lied to me about this so called duke of the empire." Caterina folded her hands in front of her face.

"Caterina you know it's nearly impossible for me to lead any one person, let alone a whole civilization. What makes you think I'm an emperor? And I didn't lie, the Rosenkreuz really are after him," Nightroad said pointing to Nightlord. He purposefully made his voice sound a little whiny.

"Abel I don't appreciate being lied to. I can understand the emperor part, however I don't understand why you kept the fact that _he_," Caterina pointed to Nightlord, "is you from the past."

"Bu-"

"Further more, because you didn't tell me the truth from the beginning this happened. I'm not sure if you're aware but my dear brother has already gotten news of who you really are. I'm sorry Abel, but from today on you are no longer welcome in the vatican. I'm erasing all files of you ever working for the AX and I expect Leon to be returned to a prison as soon as possible. Esther is free to do whatever she wants. She won't be erased from vatican records but seeing as she's now a princess I don't have jurisdiction over her." Caterina suddenly looked away from the screen, in the background both Abel's and Seth could hear someone shuffling through the door. She turned and narrowed her eyes at whoever had just entered her office. "Next time don't enter unannounced," Caterina said to the nameless person. A hand went to the camera on her desk and she quickly shut it down, canceling the radio connection.

Back on the air ship both Abel's sighed. Nightroad had calmed down from his earlier behavior but now he was worried for his boss. She could delete all his records all she wanted but that wouldn't help when her brother knew all about him.

"Hey geezer, I may not like you but even I can tell nothing good's going to come out of all this," Nightlord said, not quite looking Nightroad in the eye.

"Same here," Nightroad replied.

"How 'bout we make a temporary truce and get out of this mess together?" they said at the same time and smirked at each other as they continued saying the same thing. "But I'm still going to call you brat/ geezer," they stated to each other, once more hating the other's guts. "Fine," they growled in unison. Both stalked out of the room leaving a semi dumbfounded Seth in the room.

Truce or not, it was going to take a miracle to get those two working together.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the wait, but basket ball just tryouts just started and I still have club volley ball. Not to mention that in a few weeks swimming also starts. Why do schools insists on having all the good sports at the same time? I mean really, this is the second time I've had to drop a sport. Last year was basket ball and this year is soccer. (*sniff* I really wanted to play soccer. ) Anyway until I get used to my hectic schedule, or until this sporting season ends, updates aren't going to be posted as fast as I want it to. Oh God, and I was also planning on participating for NaNoWriMo... I'm digging myself a grave, aren't I?

Flame800900: Yes, Nightlord zapped Nightroad with electricity.


	39. Chapter 39

"So let me get this straight; you're taking me to the nearest prison even though people are after you?" Leon questioned Nightroad. Everyone was currently sitting around the coffee table in the control room. The ship was already on course for the empire, on the way they planned on taking Leon back to prison.

Both Abels nodded in answer to Leon's question. "Four-eyes, that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard you come up with! You're putting yourself straight in enemy territory. You might as well just turn yourself in while you're dropping me off!" Leon argued. To Leon it seemed as though the more time Nightroad spent with Nightlord the more idiotic he became. His ideas where getting worser each time he suggested something.

"It was Caterina's orders," Nightroad said simply.

"You're not even apart of the AX anymore!" Leon stated, looking at Nightroad as though he was insane.

"You're right, I'm not," Nightroad just barely managed to hold back his growl, he wasn't doing a good job at it. "Which is why, if you would have just shut up I would have continued with my explanation!"

Leon paled visibly at Nightroad's short comment. He shrunk into his seat, silently telling him to continue but not wanting to say anything out loud for fear of further upsetting the crusnik.

"Now as I was going to say," Nightroad stopped and raised an eyebrow, expecting Leon or someone else to interrupt him. When no one did he continued, "Leon you're free to do whatever you want. If you wish, we'll drop you off at the borders of the empire or you can continue to accompany us."

Nightlord suddenly jumped in and now the two Abels were talking in unison. "However keep in mind that if you don't go back to prison your sentence might get lengthened. So don't blame us if you decide to run off on your own and end up getting caught with another thousand years added to your jail time."

"Are you kidding me? I'm in!" Leon decided, wrapping an arm around Esther. "After all I can't let Red here go to the empire with a bunch of vampires." He eyed Virgil but his attention snapped to Asthe when the duchess growled at him for the 'vampire' insult.

"Suit yourself," both Abels sighed, noticing that Leon was no longer paying attention to them since Asthe was currently yelling at him. Shaking their heads they moved around the commotion to where Virgil and Esther had slipped off to.

"Are you sure you two are okay with this?" Nightlord asked, looking from one to the other. "Won't the queen need your help Virgil? And Esther don't you want to meet your grandmother? Besides geezer over here would probably want you two to be happy not coming with us. As far as we know anyone who comes with us could get arrested for working with a Nightlord." He jabbed a thumb in Nightroad's direction, earning him a glare from his future self.

"I have my reasons for being here," both Virgil and Esther said at once, but for different reasons. It was the first time, in a long time, that someone else besides the two Abel's said the same thing at once.

"Very well," Nightroad said, a small smile played on his lips. Who knew, maybe they would be of some help. But he wouldn't use them or put them in any danger unless it was absolutely necessary.

"Father Nightroad, what's going to happen after we get to the empire?" Esther asked.

"Seth's going to alert all the nobel's about the possibility of war…"

"And she'll probably announce that this old man is really the emperor so that they have a reason for preparing themselves," Nightlord added.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Nightlord said, giving the geezer a grin even though Nightroad was shooting bullets through his eyes. If glares could kill…

"So it's true then, you really are from the past," Virgil said, it was more like a statement than anything else. Both Abel's could tell he was brimming with questions. However while Nightlord looked at him in curiosity, Nightroad looked a bit worried with what Nightlord could tell Virgil.

Nightroad shot Nightlord a look, telling him that he had better not answer any of the questions Virgil was bound to ask about his origins, or mars, or Seth.

"Unfortunately," Nightroad mumbled while Nightlord responded with a, "yeah, but after this I'm gonna make sure I never turn out like him." Again he pointed a finger at Nightroad. This time he got a low growl.

"Good luck with that," Nightroad muttered.

"So Esther, what are you going to do after all this mess is solved?"

"I don't know. I want to meet the queen and get to know her better," Esther admitted. She smiled sheepishly at Virgil who nodded his head in acknowledgement, that she would get that chance.

"Well congratulations for finally learning where you are from. Seth told me you were an orphan, so it must be a relief to finally know you have family somewhere in the world. Not to mention you're royalty," Nightlord said kindly and gave Esther a reassuring smile. The poor girl was turning a very dark shade of red.

"I-if you don't mind me asking, how did you feel when you found out you were the emperor," Esther asked. "I mean will be the emperor," she quickly added at his confused look.

Even though she corrected herself, Nightlord still had a confused look on his face. "I'm not going to be the emperor," he stated calmly but with a somewhat worried look. Just thought of being the leader of a country made him shudder. "I'm not fit to be the emperor. Whoever started that rumor must be out of his mind."

"You don't give yourself enough credit," Virgil said. Esther nodded in agreement. "You'll make an excellent emperor," he chuckled and glanced at Nightroad who was leaning against a wall. "Who knows, with your trip into the… future you might become a better leader than him."

"I hope he does…" Nightroad whispered.

Suddenly Leon ran toward their little group. He ducked behind Nightlord, causing him to jump slightly. "What-"

"You've got to save me from that crazy chick!" Leon yelped, staring wide eyed at Asthe who was marching her way toward Leon. She held his leather jacket in front of her and purposefully drew her claws across the expensive leather, ripping it. "You're the emperor right? Well do something!"

"I'm. Not. The. Emperor." Nightlord growled. He wondered how the geezer could deal with this sorry excuse for a priest. All he really wanted to do was step aside and let Asthe do whatever she wanted with Leon so he could continue his conversation. Before he knew it Asthe was standing a foot in front of him. She didn't move around him, and Nightlord figured she was letting him decide if she could finish her business with Leon or not. "Keep me out of this," Nightlord finally said after some thinking. He sidestepped, giving Asthe a full view of Leon. "Just don't hurt him to much…" Nightlord added in teasing tones, meaning it as a joke.

"Thank you, and don't worry I'm just going give him a lesson in terran, methuselah respect. Want to join?" she asked Nightroad.

"I think I'll just watch," Nightroad said.

"Empress knows you need a lesson in proper manners," Asthe stated. Without warning she grabbed Nightroad's wrist and dragged him and Leon away from the others. Nightlord watched as they disappeared into the hall. Within a few seconds he could hear Asthe yelling at the two of them for not showing the proper respect to Seth, and how they should never call a methuselah a vampire.

"She does know that father Nightroad and you are the same person, doesn't she?" Virgil questioned after a moment.

"She does, but she's still upset about the two of them switching places in the ball," Esther answered.

"I think she's in denial," Nightlord added. "Can't say I blame her though. Even _I_ don't think that geezer is me."

"Well good luck trying to avoid the unavoidable," Virgil said.

"Just watch me," Nightlord smirked. He already had a plan to prevent becoming that geezer. The first thing he would do once he returned to mars was give Lilith her own guards and make sure she was never left alone. He'd also make sure to keep an extra close eye on Cain and ensure that his brother would never become the crazy 01 he had met in this time. Now that Cain was the definition of crazy. Nightlord didn't even want to know what made his brother act that way.

Something shattered on the floor in the hall, snapping Nightlord from his thoughts. The trio all looked at the entrance to the hall. They could hear a small gasp and an angry growl come from Asthe and Nightroad. A door creaked open and then slammed.

"Abel, what's going on here?!" Seth's shout traveled into the common room.

"Nothing," the geezer muttered.

"It sure doesn't look like nothing!" Seth yelled. "Asthe what happened here?"

"I don't know," Asthe said in a shocked voice.

Nightlord gave both Esther and Virgil a questioning look. They nodded and the three quietly walked toward the hall. When they peaked their heads through the entrance, they saw a lamp shattered on the ground. Leon was further back in the hall looking from Asthe to Nightroad with confusion. Nightroad was clutching something in his hand, but from the angle they were at, the trio couldn't make out what it was. Asthe was sitting on the ground by the shattered lamp with a hand on her cheek. It was rapidly turning pink in color. None of them except Leon seemed to notice the entrance of Nightlord, Esther, and Virgil.

Seth rounded on Leon, "explain," she ordered.

"Asthewasscoldingusbecause-"

"Slow down! I know she was yelling at you two," Seth barked. "I want to know what happened to them! Why is my lamp shattered, why is Asthe on the ground, why is-"

"Okay, okay," Leon yelled, taking a careful step back. "All I know is that the chick got hit by Four-eyes when she touched his rosary… I wasn't really paying attention to her speech before she grabbed it," he said this last part quietly. Nightroad moved his glare on Leon and the man took another step back.

"That couldn't have been it," Seth stated. She closed the distance between herself and Nightroad, reaching up she somehow managed to grab his ear despite how short she was. "Come. Now." Still holding Nightroad's ear, Seth marched back into her room. Thanks to the fact her arm didn't stretch that far, Nightroad was forced to bend at a strange angle. She slammed the door shut.

Time passed in silence as everyone exchanged looks of confusion… well, everyone except Nightlord was. The kid had a smile on his face as if he had just won the lottery.

"I have got to watch this," he smirked. Nightlord tried opening the door but it was locked. "Damn." Nightlord dug into his pocket. No locked door was going to stop him from seeing this.

"Um-Nightlord, is that really a good idea?" Esther asked, noticing he had taken out a paper clip and was bending it.

"Sure it is, it's not like they'll notice. Seth's room his huge, she probably took him into an extension or something. That's why we can't hear them."

"Yeah but-"

"Got it!" the door swung open and Nightlord trotted through. Where was a camera when you needed it? This was pure blackmail material. He creeped up to a second door that led to Seth's private kitchen. Fortunately Seth had left this door wide open. Behind him Nightlord could tell that everyone had decided to play it safe. They were all standing in the hall, looking at him as if he were a child breaking the rules and they were the other children who looked at him in awe as he stole a cookie.

"You idiot! I can't believe you hit Asthe! If she was human you could have broken her jaw!"

"But she's not!"

Nightlord could hear shouts as he neared Seth's bed.

"She still feels pain, Abel! Asthe will probably end up with a fist sized bruise on her face!"

"As if I-"

Nightlord peaked into the kitchen. At the moment he could only see the geezer.

'Don't you dare say it!" Seth threatened. "Now tell me why you punched her before I throw you off this ship and into the ocean!" Nightlord paled at the thought. Bleh, the ocean. Judging by the fact Nightroad was had frozen in place at the word, his thoughts were also in line with Nightlords.

Quickly snapping out of it Nightroad retorted, "go ahead, I can just fly to the empire my self!" Seth lunged forward and planted a punch in his jaw, the same place the geezer had hit Asthe. He staggered back and leaned agains the wall. Nightroad snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Abel what's wrong? You've never acted this way before," Seth begged, trying calm her self down.

"Nothing." Nightroad turned his head, not looking Seth in the eye. Nightlord couldn't help but think that Lilith would have hit him over the head for doing that. And it seemed Seth had taken after Lilith since she did just that.

"It's not because of the vatican is it?" Nightroad said nothing. "Abel it was bound to happen sometime. Besides, you were never meant to be a servant. You're the emperor. Why can't you just accept that and come home?"

"I'm not-"

"No, Abel you are the emperor. You've done your job in the vatican for far longer than was expected of you. I understand you made a promise to Lilith but you didn't need to bind yourself to the humans. I'm sure Lilith would under-"

"Don't bring her into this!" Nightroad barked. "From now on I'll do things my way. I'll kill that bastard of a brother from taking her, and I'll set everything right. I'm not a Nightlord, and if I have to prove my loyalty to the vatican by turing myself in then I will. Once this mess is over I'm returning to the AX."

Nightlord choked on his breath. He hadn't even heard anything after the geezer had said he would kill his brother. It couldn't be true could it? Cain couldn't have killing Lilith. Sure he had never liked her, but to actually kill her? No, Cain couldn't have. Not his brother, not his. He stumbled back.

"If you did that then everything Lady Caterina just sacrificed will be for nothing! You can't just turn yourself in! You need to prove yourself innocent."

"How do you suggest I do that? Cain told everyone at that ball who I really am. News of it has spread to the vatican within a day. It's probably reached all of the human territories by now. I have no choice. If I don't the vatican will team up with every other human country and attack the empire." Nightroad held up a finger to emphasize the 'one day part.'

"They'll kill you."

"So what? If it prevents another war from happening then I'll gladly die."

"You're just going to give up? That's not the brother I know."

"Well he died a long time ago."

"Abel…"

Nightlord snapped out of it. He never heard Seth sound so sad and loss. Pushing away all his inner turmoil Nightlord took a step forward, he entered the room Nightroad and Seth were in.

"Abel!" Seth said in shock, sounding a lot more different than what she had sounded like when talking to the geezer. Her eyes locked on Nightlord. "H-how long were you listening?"

"Enough to know I've been lied to, and that a lot more is going on here than just the geezer loosing his job," Nightlord stated. "Please tell me, did Cain really kill Lilith?"

Seth looked at him shocked, she opened her mouth to answer but no words came out. In the end she looked away and Nightroad had to answer for her. "He did," was his simple answer. The geezer also refused to look him in the eye as he said this.

"B-but why?"

"Doesn't matter," stated Nightroad. He pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against and made a move to leave the room but Seth blocked his path.

"We still need to talk."

"I'm done talking."

"No, you're not!" Both Seth and Nightlord yelled.

"Abel can't you at least try to clear your name?" Seth asked and at the same time Nightlord yelled, "why did Can kill Lilith!?"

"Seth it's impossible," Nightroad sighed. He was no longer yelling and didn't sound irritated, instead he sounded tired. "No normal human could fight over fifty humans at once and heal as fast as I did during that little fight. They also know about the brat. We don't have many options here."

"I'm right here you know?" Nightlord stated, more than irritated that the geezer had ignored his question.

"We'll find something to do," Seth countered, also ignoring Nightlord.

"It's hopeless and I won't allow your people to die trying to protect me."

"They're your people too, and we'll find another way to prevent another war. Just don't throw away your life. If you do, you'll never get the chance to see true piece and realize Lilith's dream."

"Okay sister, I won't throw my life away. But as soon as the vatican's inquistion starts killing random methuselah I _will_ turn myself in," Nightroad stated. He gave her a kind smile. "And thanks, I'm sorry for snapping. I guess I really deserved that… you to brat…" Nightroad turned his smile on Nightlord.

For the first time Nightlord finally earned a real smile from Nightroad, somehow it made him feel warm and protected on the inside. 'How odd,' he thought. 'This is certainly a new feeling, but it feels nice.' A small flicker a respect crossed Nightlord's mind. NO! Nightlord shoved the thought away, he would not respect Nightroad.

Nightlord snorted, rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "I don't give a damn. Just tell me what happened to Lilith!"

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**A/N:** So the good news is that I made the tryouts for basket ball. Bad news is that practice is every weekday after school. And you guys are so lucky I love you other wise I would have made you all wait for this chapter until next week. Hope you guys liked it and please review.


	40. Chapter 40

**A/N:** **Wow, I never expected this chapter to take so long... and it didn't! I promise I had finished this chapter a while ago, but then it got deleted along with it's outline, and all my other stories. Dumb flash drive! I treasured you more than my phone, and you had to crash on me! **

**I'd go on more about it, and how upset I am that ALL my stories including several future chapters had been deleted. Oh and did I mention that I hate rewriting chapters to make it the same as how it was before? I swear the first version of this chapter was much more interesting... well to me it was since I love putting Nightroad in tight spots. Anyway I'm done with my ranting. Please forgive me for the wait, if you must blame someone blame my USB. **

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A very long week had passed in a hasty blur. Nightroad had immersed himself in planning and work. He had hardly eaten a bite since telling Nightlord about Lilith's death. Sleep was nearly impossible for him to find as he could hear the brat crying himself to sleep, and even when he wasn't crying the kid wouldn't come out of his room unless Seth or Nightroad went in to get him.

Nightroad sighed and gazed out of his window. This had been the only time he had allowed himself a small break. Could this even be called a break? Even as he sat there looking at the empire he could practically see the plans and tactic's swimming before his eyes as if he were preparing for a gambit. Back leaning against the wall and knees bent, his head was propped up by his hand. A long sigh escaped his lips. He really didn't want to be here right now. They had landed in the empire five days ago. Seth had given everyone their own rooms then went to gather her council. Nightroad hadn't seen her since, though he suspected Nightlord would have.

The weight of the clothes he wore were blunt reminders of the small little detail he had been trying to forget ever since he last talked to Caterina. Soon the 'emperor' would officially return to the empire. Gah! Nightroad gloomily played with the sleeves of his clothes. He now wore something similar to what the kid was wearing except much more elegant. The shirt itself, could have bought three houses. Not to mention the boots could probably buy him an eighth of the vatican. Never in his life had he worn so much wealth! It was ludicrous. At the moment all he really wanted to do was tear off these clothes and wear his old clothes… which Seth had burned. Damn her foresight!

With a tired smile, Nightroad slid off the window sill. His heavy boots clunked against the soft carpet with light thuds. Mind distracted and weary he made his way back to his desk- that he was beginning to see more as a prison- and got back to work. Honestly he didn't know what he was planning for, or if it would do any good. More than anything, this was more of a way to distract his mind. He knew Cardinal Francesco would be attacking the empire any day now. The problem was he didn't know when or how. Then there was also the question of his return and the kid. Out of all the possibilities surrounding his possible return to the empire, this had never been one of them.

"Geezer!" the word knocked Nightroad out of his thoughts.

"Can I help you?" Nightroad asked calmly while mentally yelling at Nightlord to go away.

"Yeah, your fan club is irritating me! I suggest you appease them with your presence before I knock some sense into them."

"Hmmm?" 'Fan club?' That was certainly and interesting way to refer to his friends.

"What do you mean 'hmmm?' They're irritating me!" Nightlord snapped.

"First off they aren't my fan club, and secondly does this even matter?"

"No duh! If it didn't matter I wouldn't be wasting my time here right now," Nightlord barked. "You're making everyone edgy because you've locked yourself in your room and haven't come out to eat once since we got here! You're also not acting like your goody-goody-idiot-self! It's driving everyone crazy and they're all bugging me about it!"

So now Nightlord was scolding him about his attitude? How was that fair? If Nightroad remembered correctly he wasn't the one who cried himself to sleep and locked himself in his room for the past few days. And his door wasn't locked, it had been open ever since he walked into the room five days ago. Nightroad smirked, it almost sounded as if the kid was mixing up which 'Abel' everyone was worrying about.

"Has it ever occurred to you that maybe they're worried about _you_?"

"Yes…no, but it doesn't matter! At least I've gotten out of my room today!" Nightlord shouted causing Nightlord to flinch from the sudden loudness.

"Mind saying that louder? I think there's a few people in Rome who didn't hear you." Nightroad patiently waited for Nightlord to calm himself before continuing. "If the others are worried about me, I'm sure they'll come visit me when they feel like it. But if they're truly bothering you about me then tell them I'm fine and to talk to me about whatever they're concerned about."

"I did tell them that," Nightlord stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"If they continue bothering you just tell them to leave you alone."

"They don't listen to me!"

"Asthe and Virgil do." Nightroad felt bad for involving them in this and using the kid's status as future emperor to get him to go away, but Nightroad was growing bored of this conversation. If he knew he would be wasting his time talking to Nightlord he would have gone to sleep.

"Are you kidding me? Those two are more worried about my health than even you are!" Nightlord yelled.

"So this is where you've been hiding," a voice stated. At the unwelcomed guests Nightroad looked up sharply and Nightlord clenched his fists and moved into a subtle defensive stance. Speak of the devil and he shall come. It was: Leon, Esther, Virgil and Asthe. Leon was the one who spoke.

"Father Nightroad, Lord Abel Nightlord, you two haven't eaten in the last week," Esther stated worriedly. She ignored the look of shock on their faces as she and the rest of them stepped into the room. They had been so engrossed in their conversation that they hadn't even noticed the approach!

"I've eaten a few snacks," Nightroad lied and motioned toward a small refrigerator that he had been using as an extra table.

"You're lying," Virgil said after a while. His voice didn't sound accusing but Nightroad couldn't deny the fact the man looked sure about his answer.

Nightroad smirked, Virgil sure was observant. "Well I'm not lying when I say I'm-

"Tired!" Nightroad found Seth's finger on his forehead. Seth glared at her brother angrily. "You've not slept a wink since we last talked! And what's this about the two of you not eating?" Seth snatched a random paper off of the desk. It was one of the many plans he had written out. She raised an elegant eyebrow. "Abel what in the world are you writing? If you didn't know, English has been a dead language for nearly a thousand years."

"I didn't realize," Nightroad said sarcastically. Truth be told he had written it in that language so other's wouldn't read it. Thank God Seth hadn't grabbed the other part of that certain plan. She'd be furious if she ever read it.

Seth huffed and slammed the paper on the desk. She reached across the mahogany desk and grabbed his wrist. "You're eating right now whether you like it or not!" she stated as she shot a challenging look at Nightlord.

"I've taken care of myself for the past nine centuries, I'm certain I don't need you telling me when to eat," Nightroad said. "Plus the kid can take care of himself. After all he is thirty. I highly doubt he needs someone to hold his hand."

"Even though you've been in a sort of coma or hibernation for most of those nine hundred years?" Seth challenged.

"Minor details," Nightroad dismissed it with a wave of his hand.

"What kind of idiot hibernates?" Nightlord muttered. "What do you think you are? A bear?"

"What can I say? I was tired and it was cold," Nightroad shrugged, throwing a smirk at Nightlord. It was half the truth. He was tired but it had mostly been for his negligence to eat.

"While I hate to ruin your father-son-bonding-time, you two need to eat."

"Father/Son?!" both Abels yelled in unison. "He's far from being my father/son. We may have come to a certain degree of understanding but I could never see this geezer/brat in that sort of light," they glared at each other as if sizing the other up. "He's more like an idiot brother. And I'm not hungry."

"Whatever helps you two sleep at night," Seth sighed. "You four are welcome to join us," she added to the others.

"Thank you," Virgil said with a small bow.

It seemed the two Abels would always receive looks of awe when they talked in unison. "Your eyes will pop out of their sockets if you three keep looking at us like that," they commented. The only one not affected by their speech patterns was Virgil. Leon and Esther were always shocked and Asthe… well she looked like she would murder Nightroad.

"Stop trying to change the topic," Seth scolded, her grip on Nightroad's wrist tightened and he winced as her nails bit into him.

"You're not going to drop this topic until we say yes, are you?" the Abels asked.

"Yep."

Why couldn't she just leave them alone? Was that to much to ask for? They were busy for crying out loud! Well, Nightroad was doing something useful, Nightlord on the other hand was worth debating on… It seemed no matter what they did, Karma always got to them. In this case karma was Seth.

"Come on Four-Eyes, back in the vatican you ate enough to feed three men," Leon urged.

"No kidding, he wiped my whole kitchen clean," Asthe grumbled to herself. Even though a week had passed since Nightroad had hit her, she still held a small grudge against him.

You can't change anything if you don't have the energy to do so," Virgil added knowingly, his eyes straying mostly toward Nightlord.

Scratch that, karma was everyone. Nothing ever went their way. Was it possible that Murphy's law only applied to those who had the name 'Abel?' It sure did feel like it. Maybe they should get a name change.

"Come on Abel! Please!" Seth begged, giving them both puppy eyes.

A loud piercing crack split the air. Oh yeah, his name was so cursed. Something hot whizzed passed Nightroad's ear with deadly speed. The bullet slammed into the wall. Nightroad rushed toward the window, a small whole the size of a bullet was in it. His eyes searching the shadows of the empire for any signs of an assassin. This was definitely the vatican's doing.

It was most likely the inquisitorial. But as far as Nightroad knew, they usually didn't use guns. Or was this one of Francisco's plans to catch rogue vampires? Seeing nothing that could pose as a threat, Nightroad turned back to the others. Big mistake. The minute he did so a barrage of bullets shattered the deadly quiet. The glass window shattered, embedding the shards into the walls and whatever else was in the way.

"I would have thought we had at least another week," Nightroad hissed through the pain. A few shards of glass had buried themselves in his back. He glanced back to the now shattered window. Human's and Methuselah alike where looking up worriedly… but not at the room. Nightroad looked up. There in the sky was an air ship. It's giant mass cast a large shadow of death over the palace. He noticed that the machine guns were only pointed at the palace, or more specifically his room. A tracking device! "Leon, Esther, do you still have the radio issued by the vatican?" Nightroad rasped out. They had a three minute interval for the time it took to reload the missiles.

"Lost mine in Albion," Leon said, giving Nightroad a weird look.

Esther nodded as she pulled out the small ear piece. "I have mine." She showed it to him.

Nightlord snatched up the radio, "they're tracking us with this," he growled and made a move to crush it but Nightroad stole it from him before he could.

"If you destroy this then they'll attack randomly," Nightroad stated. They only had another minute left. "Seth, take them to the underground tunnels and evacuate the civilians."

"What are you going to do?"

"Lure them away."

"What? But that's crazy!"

Nightroad wasn't listening. He pushed everyone out of the room and shut the door, locking it. He could hear their complaints and several curses from the brat and Asthe.

"Fine!" Seth's shout reached him as he looked out the window. "But if you don't come back within the day we're coming to get you!"

So be it.

The ground swam up to meet him as he jumped out the window. Landing cat like, Nightroad sprinted into the clearing, he could see the slight movement of the ship as it aimed for him. Out of the corner of his eye he could make out the kid glaring at him from his room before retreating. The ship shot another barrage of bullets at him. Dancing around them Nightroad sprinted to the front of the palace.

Waiting a moment, Nightroad took notice that the ship's guns had repositioned it's self to aim at him. Like that was going to hit him anyway. Nightroad couldn't help the smirk from appearing on his face. Next was a missile. The inquisition always followed a certain pattern. Bullets, missiles, bombs. The bullets were usually a distraction to buy time as they tried locking onto the target. By now they should have locked onto him.

Sprinting forward, he made sure the ship would still be able to see him but at the same time he was reaching speeds that no human would be able to. "Come and get me," Nightroad muttered.

Not wanting anyone caught in the cross fire he made sure to travel along the border before heading straight into the barren land that stretched out from the empire. No human's had taken residence here, for fear that the methuselah would attack them. Yet at the same time no Methuselah dared cross the empire's shield for fear of the sun. It was the perfect place to crash land this ship.

Nightroad stopped once he could no longer see any buildings of the empire. "Crusnik 02, release restriction to 40 percent activate." Hopefully they wouldn't take time to consider why his hair was currently defying gravity.

"Surrender now, and your death will be painless!" a deep voice echoed from the ship.

Wow, that really convinced him to surrender. Nightroad rolled his eyes. It was no wonder none of the rogue methuselah had ever surrendered willingly. How the hell did they think he could show them he had surrendered anyway? It wasn't like he had a speaker with him and from that high, they probably couldn't make out his arms. What idiots. Nightroad lifted his arms in a sign of peace anyway.

"Then if you will not surrender you will die a painful death!" the voice said. Nightroad recognized it as Petro.

The ship's guns charged with light. They rocked back as the two missiles fired. Nightroad raced forward. Scythe drawn he leapt onto the first missile and slashed it in half. The powder and chemicals exploded around him, burning into his flesh. Holding back a scream of pain, he jumped onto the next missile but this time it exploded on contact. His body burned as the chemical's worked their way into his flesh, eating away at him. His coat was frayed from the heat and slid from his shoulders. No way in hell was a small little missile going to stop him!

Nightroad flung his scythe at the ship as gravity caught him. Forcing himself to flip, Nightroad caught sight of his scythe cutting through one of the wings as if it were butter. The wing slammed into the ground not even a minute later. The ship tilted the side, as it was now unbalanced. It came to a screeching halt a few seconds later, sending dust into the air.

"Now who's the one who should be surrendering?" Nightroad muttered to himself. Hopefully this would serve as a lesson for the inquisition: don't misjudge the enemy.

Working his way to the entrance, Abel deactivated the crusnik and was suddenly hit with a pang of hunger. The siren roared in his ears as the ship's halls were lit red by the alarms. In the distance he could hear a few shouts for help.

Abel stepped across the threshold. His instincts immediately told him to run. Something wasn't right. His fingers twitched near the hilt of his gun. The sirens stopped and red lights turned off, leaving the hall to be lit by the usual luminescence._ Click. _Nightroad stiffened as he felt the cold barrel of a gun between his shoulder blades. _Bang. _

XXX

"Stupid Geezer!" Nightlord growled. "Why the hell doesn't he want back up!?"

"Same reason why you go running off when you hear about the rebels," Seth replied. She led them down a hall and to the entrance of the underground tunnels.

"But that's my job!" Nightlord stated. "Besides no one can take down an airship singlehandedly."

"Would you like to make a bet on that?"

"A bet on what?" Leon interrupted.

"A bet on if Abel Nightroad can take down that airship and come back safely," Seth responded. "Looser needs to do whatever the winner says for a day."

Asthe and Esther shared a look of horror. They couldn't believe the empress of the New Human Empire would act in such a childish way.

"The geezers going to runaway with his tail tucked between his legs," Nightlord stated. "I'll take you up on that bet."

"I'm with my wingman!" Leon announced, wrapping an arm around Nightlord's shoulder. "There's no way Four-Eyes can take down an airship."

"Okay," Seth grinned. "I say he'll take down that ship and come back safely."

"You're on little lady," Leon barked happily.

Seth just rolled her eyes and shot Nightlord a playful look. She continued down the hall but instead of going to the tunnels she opened another door that led into the planning room.

Virgil raised an eyebrow, "Weren't we supposed to go to the underground tunnels?"

"Why would we do that when we're in no danger?" Seth said. "Abel's luring the ship away, I'm sure he'll understand if we stay here instead of going underground." She gave Nightlord a pointed look, to which he looked at her questioningly. Was she going to blame him for something that the geezer did, but he didn't? Nightlord had already gotten an earful of those criticizes.

"Will he really be okay?" Esther asked. She glanced at Nightlord before shaking her head and looking back at Seth. "He always seemed like- like an airhead. At the vatican I mean… he would trip over his feet, he never took missions seriously. Sometimes I would believe he was more interested in food than anything else… he was also scared of Lady Caterina…" Esther said the last part so quietly that Nightlord just barely managed to hear it.

Seth bit her lip as if trying to restrain herself from laughing. "If he," Seth jabbed her thumb at Nightlord, "can take care of himself, I'm sure Nightroad can do the same. I'm not sure why Abel decided to act like a fool in the vatican, you'd have to ask him that question yourself, but however he acted back then isn't who he really is."

"Still…"

"Don't worry about it," Leon said with a wolfish smile. He forced Nightlord to move with him as he wrapped his other arm around Esther's shoulder. "Four-Eye's is one of The AX's best agents. Not better than me, but still good. No offense to you of course."

"None taken," Nightlord nodded. "So why are we here anyway?" he changed the topic. He'd much rather be sleeping the rest of this day away.

"To discuss the return of the emperor," Seth answered with a grin.

"Oh joy…" Everyone looked at Nightlord.

"You'll be happy to know the Council wanted to provide you with guards-"

"I'm not having guards!" Nightlord exclaimed.

"However I refused them," Seth continued as if he hadn't interrupted her. "Instead we'll be announcing the return of the emperor." Nightlord's jaw dropped. He didn't really mind (he wasn't the emperor...yet) but the geezer sure would. "If we announce 'his' return the vatican won't be able to attack without starting a war with us. We'll also be announcing this to the rest of the world. If the vatican attacks, none of the other countries will back them up unless they have a good reason to."

"Didn't that other man say Nightroad was the enemy of the world at some point?" Asthe questioned.

"Yes, but there's no proof of that," Seth said. "To the terrans the Nightlords are myths. Only the Empire knows the truth. For now Abel will need to go by the Empress' last name, 'Vradica.'

"Abel 'Vradica?'" Nightlord couldn't wrap his mind around it. He could bet his arm that Seth had stolen her 'Empress name' from a fairy tale book.

Seth nodded, "that's what we'll be telling those who ask. If they don't ask then we won't mention his/your last name. We'll say something along the lines of: 'Cain is insane.'"

"It's to much of a stretch. There's a chance someone from the empire will leak the information," Nightlord argued.

"He has a point," Virgil agreed. "If you go through with this plan, everyone will need to call the emperor 'Vradica' instead of 'Nightlord.' All methuselah know the emperor is a Nightlord. They won't accept the emperor if he's masquerading as Vradica."

"The empire will know the truth," Seth stated.

"You're willing to put that much trust in the people here?" Nightlord asked incredulously. If one person let it slip that the Nightlords were real then they'd have a full blown war on their hands. Telling the empire that the geezer was Nightlord and changing his name to Vradica was asking for trouble.

"The Empress would trust her children with her life, and I happen to believe in them as well," Seth said. "They can keep a secret."

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**A/N:** And I'm done and looking forward to writing the next chapter for this! I promise you won't have to wait as long as you did for this.

Reviews are nice and interesting and fun to read and it encourages me to write more and I'd appreciate it if you reviewed XD


	41. Chapter 41: Captured

**Sorry for the wait. I'll never make another promise for quicker chapters. Well here's the next update. **

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_Bang. _

Nightroad gasped as fiery hot pain shot through his chest. The wall before him splatter with blood. "Abel Nightroad, you are under arrest for crimes against the vatican." Nightroad frowned, he hadn't heard that monotone voice in ages. He would have smiled if it weren't for the fact Tres just shot him. "If you resist I have the authority to shoot."

Turning Nightroad asked, "what are you doing here, Tres?" He shouldn't have been here! The android should have stayed by Caterina's side, it was too dangerous for her to be without a guard right now! Plus,Caterina would never send an agent after him, let alone permit the agent to harm him the way Tres just did. God that, hurt! He gripped his chest. "Who's order are you following?" Abel asked again when he got no answer.

"Lady Caterina," answered Tres after a moment of pause, but it was enough for Nightroad to tell the android was lying.

"How is she? I haven't heard from her in a while," Abel said, trying to get more information out of the android.

"You no longer have access to that information."

"I'm not your enemy, Tres. If anything I can help," Nightroad sighed tiredly. The edges of his vision was already getting blurry from blood loss. "Don't I have the right to know why Caterina would order for my arrest?"

"Understood," Tres stated in monotone.

Odd how he could say that and still point the gun at Abel's chest.

Tres' mouth moved with unheard words. Nightroad blinked, what was he saying? His head felt like it was being hammered a thousand times over. He shook his head to clear the fuzz but that only made it worse. The words Tres spoke, sounded like gibberish to his sluggish mind. Maybe staying up for a week without food wasn't the brightest idea. Little black and white dots blurred his vision. Abel took in a deep breath, his chest painfully constricted with the need for air as dots slowly consumed his vision in black, grey, and white. The white dots were tinted pink by the red lights flashing in the ship.

"Father Iqus!" Petro boomed as he rounded the corner. His eyes immediately locked onto Nightroad and narrowed on him hatefully. Nightroad slowly looked up, only to find the end of the screamer pointed at his face. Abel could barely make out the people who had been following Petro. Apparently they were all evacuating. "You! How dare you trick a holy cardinal!"

Nightroad frowned, truth be told, all he had heard was an incoherent babbling that sounded like a sick dog.

"What?" Abel rasped out, his voice sounding strained.

"You heard me Nightroad! For crimes against the vatican I'll destroy you!"

A sharp whistle pierced the air as Petro lunged forward. Nightroad stumbled back, barely able to dodge it, but at the price of his vision blurring fully. He felt his body collide with the ground and he gasped in pain.

"Stand down, unless you want to feel the wrath of God's soldier!" Petro ordered. The end of his screamer was placed on Nightroad's chest.

"I at least have the right to know what I've done wrong," Abel growled furiously. His judgement was clouded by pain and the fact his sight was failing him. He glared at the area he thought Petro would be. Nothing, he couldn't see anything. Willpower was amazing, without it, Abel would have been unconscious a while ago.

"You're a spy for the empire!" Petro spat. "A Nightlord!"

"There's no records of a Nightlord even existing!" Abel stated. Everything about him and his siblings had been erased and destroyed as part of his deal with the pope from long ago. He made sure of it.

"There wasn't," Petro conceded and his spear lowered a fraction. "However only the vatican's records have been erased. Data in Albion hasn't been."

Abel growled in defiance. In one swift motion he knocked the spear away and stood up.

Fingers slowly curled into fists. Abel raised one slightly, ready to pummel the man before him.

Static came through a radio to Abel's right. His eyes naturally snapped toward the sound but he couldn't see anything. If it hadn't been for his enhanced hearing and smell he wouldn't be able to tell where anything was at the moment.

"Missiles aimed at the Empire and ready to shoot. Requesting conformation that familiar soldiers are in the clear. Over."

"Clear."

"N-no," Abel's glassy eyes lurched forward, and the screamer easily pierced the burnt cloth that was his clothes. A small trickle of blood could be seen from the new wound, but he ignored it. "Don't shoot! We aren't clear!" If they shot the missiles then everything Abel had been working for would be destroyed! All of Caterina's effort would have been for nothing and the people he had grown to love would be put in danger. Methuselah and human would all be in for a full blown war. "Don't. You'll kill millions of people. Not just the methuselah. There's humans in the empire too."

"But they're defects," Petro stated. "The minute they joined the empire was the minute they betrayed all human countries.'

Begging was below him, but if it meant saving his people- Seth's children, even if it was to only give them a second more to live, he'd gladly do it. "Petro, don't. Recall it, please. I willingly turn myself in and vow not to escape. I give you my word, so don't kill innocent lives."

Despite not being able to see anything, Abel could tell Petro was eyeing him. Trying to come up with a decision. Petro was an honorable man, even if he hated the methuslelah he wouldn't kill humans if there was a way out of it. That much was proved when he didn't kill Ion. The metal armor Petro wore clinked together as the man nodded. "Put the missiles on stand by."

"Stand by?" the voice on the radio repeated. "We have ten more minutes until launching. Are you sure. Cardinal Francesco won't a-"

"You heard me the first time! I said stand by!" Petro barked.

Relief flooded Nightroad's hazy mind. All his pent up adrenaline rapidly declined. The last words he heard before falling to oblivion was, "if it's your death wish." And the radio went silent.

XXX

Nightlord's eyes silently followed Seth as she skipped around the room, forcing everyone to scoot in their seats. He couldn't believe she was serious about this. Not ten minutes had passed when she started printing letters to be sent out to each methuselah and human of the empire. It told them all of her plans with the instructions to burn the letter as soon as they read it.

The worst part was he was now being called, Vradica! He was going to kill that geezer! Nightlord, no, Vradica, massaged his temples tiredly. Seth had told the entire empire the whole story, through the letters. For once he wished that Seth would never grow up. Her schemes seemed to get odder the older she got. Her plans couldn't get any more outrageous if she told him to wear a tutu.

"Seth, don't you think this is over doing it a bit?" Nightlord questioned. The next person to call him-

"Vradica?"

Nightlord glared at the girl who intruded on his conversation. He sighed, it wasn't Esther's fault his sister enjoyed torturing him. He dared not think, what would have happened if he hadn't been Seth's older brother and if Seth had been the older sister.

"My names, Abel _Nightlord_. Not, Vradica," he corrected, earning him a glare from Seth.

"Sir?"

"Yes?" Nightlord asked, removing his eyes from Seth. He ran a hand through his messy hair. "Sorry, I just don't _agree_ with this plan," he said, emphasizing his disagreement to get Seth's attention. He glanced from Esther to Virgil.

"I can see your point," Virgil confessed as Seth skipped out of the room with an arm full of letters. "If I may ask, what's your relationship with her? You two seem awfully close to have just met."

"I honestly don't know anymore," Nightlord sighed, but didn't go further into the topic. She was supposed to be his younger sister, and yet here she was acting as if she were older. Then she goes and says that the geezer was the empress' uncle but calls him brother. So what was it? Was he her uncle or her brother? This was all so confusing to him.

Just then, Seth skipped back into the room and took a seat at the end of the table. She wore a feral grin on her face and Nightlord immediately feared whatever she was going to say. Perhaps Cain wasn't the only crazy one in this time. "I received several reports that the vatican airship crashed in the desert," she announced cheerfully.

"No way!" Leon yelled. "Four-eyes couldn't have taken down an airship. Not even I can do that!"

Seth's eyes sparkled with mischief as she cooly shot Leon a look. "I do believe I've won a bet. Now when your old man gets back you'll need to help me convince him to make a statement of his return."

"He's not my old man, he's an idiot," Nightlord growled. He didn't have a dad! He had a father figure, not an actual father. "Besides what makes you think he'll listen?"

"Well if he doesn't do it, you will," Seth shrugged. "It's up to you."

"I think you're looking into this to much. Can't we just focus on what's going on right now?" Nightlord asked, even he could hear a bit of defeat in his own voice. If the geezer did take down the air ship, the news would have taken at least an hour for it to get the empire. If that were the case, the geezer should have gotten back by now. There was also the matter of who had seen the geezer take down the air ship. Nightlord mentally frowned, he knew something wasn't right.

"My first orders are to eat," Seth declared as she snapped her fingers and a few servants entered the room carrying trays.

XXX

(two days later)

**_Splash! _**

Nightroad flinched as the cool liquid trickled down his back. It felt scorching hot as it went over his burns and wounds. Thanks to the fact he hadn't eaten in a little over a week his wounds were healing slower than usual… though he was also to blame for that since he kept more of the noticeable ones open. He didn't want the inquisition to think he was a methuselah, or a Nightlord. Fat chance that would happen. It seemed everyone was set on believing he was a Nightlord, and it was because of the Royal's Ball incident.

"Get up, Scum. We're here," a gruff voice ordered. Nightroad unwillingly opened his eyes into slits and stood up. Brother Petro had called for another airship and they were transported to the vatican as quickly as they could. "Move it," the man growled, pushing Nightroad forward.

Nightroad continued walking forward but didn't quicken his pace for the man. If the human insisted on being rude then Abel could care less if it took a month to get to the Vatican's torture cells! Hell, he preferred it that way. Not that it would actually take month. It was closer to ten minutes then a month.

"Enjoy your last days alive," the inquisition member sneered once they were before the cell. Abel felt the man roughly shove a weapon into Abel's back, forcing him into the cell.

Nightroad sighed, wondering how long he'd have to stay in the room before they decided his faith. The room was small and had no windows. A table sat in the middle of the room with two chairs on either side. On one of the walls there were chains to restrain the prisoner and before it was a barrel filled with water. He wasn't supposed to see any of this. A normal human wouldn't have been able to see through the thick darkness. Abel would have smirked had he not been in pain. They were already starting to torture him mentally, or at least trying to. He never did understand why humans were so scared of the dark, he knew the theory but it never applied to him.

Even after all this time the Vatican's way of torture was the same. It didn't seem that long ago when he was in this same cell, being torured by a buffoon of a man. Chained to a wall and electrocuted to unconsciousness only to be woken up because of the lack of oxygen when his head was pushed underwater. Abel shook his head from memories of the past.

Moving to one of the chairs, Nightroad took a seat and leaned his head on his hand with his head facing the door.

He didn't know how long he waited but when the door opened, sunlight flooded the room. Nightroad shielded his eyes from the offending light as he squinted at the man in the door way.

"Status report, Nightroad," Tres said as he shut the door, not even bothering to turn on the lights. His glass red eyes shone through the darkness as he approached Abel.

"Would it kill you to ask if I was okay, instead of 'status report?'"Nightroad asked. "It's not that hard," his voice sounded a bit raspy but he ignored it. If he had been the brat he would have hated to admit that he felt much better than when he wad willingly given himself up. True, his injuries hadn't healed but that could quickly be remedied if he stopped restraining the nano-machines from doing their job.

"Answer denied. Status report, Nightroad."

"I'm fine," Nightroad answered. Even though he felt anything but fine. Better, but no where near 'fine.' Being fine would require him drinking methuselah blood and he wasn't about to do that.

"Incorrect. My scanner's indicate that your-"

"Why are you here, Tres?" Abel interrupted. Even if Tres was the one who caught him, Cardinal Francesco wouldn't take his visit so lightly.

"Her eminence ordered me to pass on a message. 'You shouldn't have turned yourself in. My brother wants to kill and experiment on you, and I'm afraid I can do nothing to stop him without jeopardizing my status any farther," Tres said, his voice sounded exactly like Caterina's. He blinked and in his normal voice said, "Mission accomplished, deleting file."

"It's best if she doesn't do anything to help me," Abel admitted. Besides, the reason why he didn't do anything to get away was because he didn't want Caterina to get the repercussions of his actions plus there was a missile aimed at the empire and he wasn't sure if Seth was aware of the threat. "Will you pass along a message?"

Tres nodded, "recording."

"Don't worry about me, Caterina. I'll figure something out." Abel was forced to stop for a while to clear his throat of the blood that was in his airway. "Don't hesitate to put the blame on me, it's the least I can do as an ex-AX member. I owe you at least that much," he paused then said, "end recording."

"Recorded. Am I to assume the message is for Lady Caterina?"

"Stop following protocol," Abel grumbled. Who else would that message be for? He said Caterina's name in it, for Christ's sake!

Tres stared at him blankly.

"Yes, it's for Cateri-" Abel broke off into a coughing fit. Blood splattered onto his hand. "You… should go," Abel coughed. He turned his head away from Tres. "Don't tell Caterina of my condition."

Out of the corner of his eye he could see Tres nod. Abel could have sworn he saw a tint of regret in the androids red eyes, but before he could confirm the fact Tres left the room.

XXX

'The pressure of having a secret sucks,' Nightlord reflected. Especially when every damned person knew the secret! He hadn't even considered his name to be a secret until Seth came along and announced that he was related to the empress! What kind of person keeps their own name a secret from someone? Of course everyone knew his real name, everyone knew he was the emperor, everyone knew what he looked like, and everyone was in on Seth's plan.

"Sir Vradica, please look this way," one of the servants said patiently. "And stand up straight. I need to get these measurements right."

His name wasn't Vradica! Having the same damned body of the geezer was making his patients wear thin. Hell, at this point Nightlord didn't even care if his older self came back or not. It was a little over two days since he last saw the geezer and he and Seth, had come to the conclusion that the idiot was captured due to lack of sleep and nourishment.

"I'm worried," Esther admitted and Nightlord needed to resist the urge to turn. "Father Nightroad… he may be clumsy but… he's never been missing for so long…"

"Even if he was traveling at a human's pace he should have gotten back by now," Seth admitted. She flipped through a magazine with clothing styles in it. "Add this one to his wardrobe as well," she said offhandedly to the servant. "Make it blue though. I don't think he empress would appreciate him having to much green."

"Of course, my lady," the servant said, not even bothering to look away from Nightlord. A thin measuring tape was wrapped around his torso and the servant quickly wrote the measurement down.

"You don't think he was captured, do you?" Esther asked anxiously.

"Yes, I do think he'll look nice in this," Seth nodded.

"What if they torture him…? Are you listening to me?"

"What? Yes, why wouldn't I be listening to you?" Seth replied. Clearly she had no idea what Esther was talking about.

"Do you think father Nightroad has been captured?"

Seth blinked, "oh, I'm sure he's fine." She smiled childishly. "He may not have been in his best condition when he left, but even starved, it would take a lot more than an airship and a few soldiers to take him down… Something else must be keeping him from returning."

"What would keep him from coming back?" Esther and Nightlord asked at once. Nightlord couldn't help but turn toward the two.

"Vradica, please look straight ahead," the servant reminded Nightlord and he snapped his head back in place.

There was a long pause before Seth said, "you can continue with the measurement later. You're free to leave now."

"But-" the servant started only to cut off. "Thank you for your kindness," he slightly bowed to Seth. "It's been an honor working with you Lord Vradica," the servant added and bowed even deeper to Nightlord. "I'll come back to complete the measurements at another date."

Nightlord gave a quick nod to the man. It had only been two days of being 'royalty' as Seth called it and he was already uncomfortable with his new status. The first time someone bowed to him, Nightlord had bowed back. This resulted in the person bowing even lower. Then when he simply nodded his head in a half bow, said person still insisted on bowing even lower. It was ridiculous! At one point someone had bowed so low that their nose almost touched their knee. As such, Nightlord simply didn't bow at all. He wasn't even allowed the luxury of slumping his shoulders as the geezer would often do. According to Mirka it was a form of disrespect and would only cause people to bow as low as they could.

Once the man left, Nightlord turned his attention back to the two women. "Did you find something?" he asked. The only reason why Seth would have a servant leave was if she needed to discuss classified information.

"You can't see it from within the empire, but theres a vatican airship pointing missiles at us. My guess is that Abel turned himself in because he was aware of the missiles."

"When?"

"Did I find out? Yesterday, while I was doing my usual run to check on the shield around the empire," Seth answered. "The shield distorts the view from the sky so we can't see the airships unless we're right by the border."

Nightlord nodded in thought. "He would try to escape… right?"

Seth shrugged. "You should know the answer to that better than I would."

"But I…" Nightlord's voice faded. He knew nothing about the geezer. Just when he thought he did, he was slammed with the information that his brother killed Lilith! Though… the geezer wasn't the one who did that he couldn't help but link Nightroad with that happened to Lilith. In a way he blamed himself, his older self, for allowing Lilith to die.

"Knowing you," Seth began, interrupting his thoughts, "You wouldn't try escaping if it meant the lives of the people you vowed to protect. Nightroad might be different, but you two are still similar in your morals." She chuckled darkly. "Considering his age, you should be grateful that you'll still have any morals in the future. I've known a few methuselah who lost that during their last years of life."

* * *

**A/N:** I think I'm almost done with this story. It just depends on how long chapters are... And if I add things then of course it'll be longer, but I now know where I'm going to end this story! I hope...

Now something random that's been on my mind: I really miss a shrunken Abel, almost makes me want to shrink him again.


End file.
